11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enthralls reluctant and dyslexic readers, July 14, 2010
This review is from: Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute (Paperback)
As a reading tutor I am always looking for high interest books for my dyslexic students. This book is perfect--it's funny and has a lot of lively pictures of the cafeteria Lunch Lady saving the day, plus the words used are a good mix of mainly easy and with some challenging ones thrown in too. I have a very smart eleven year old student who can only read at the first or early second grade level and he loves this book. It takes him a long time, but not only can he read almost all of it himself, I have to take the book out of his hands at the end of our session because he is completely engrossed.
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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
When Fishsticks Are Lethal Weapons..., August 14, 2009
This review is from: Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute (Paperback)
Obviously, the very best thing about this series is that Krosoczka chose a lunch lady for his undercover superhero. That made me laugh even before I discovered related details such as weaponry. In a brief scene before the title page (comparable to the scene before the opening credits roll in a movie), we see two bank robbers being stopped by a heroic figure on a motorcycle that has a sloppy joe button. Yep, it's hard to get away when your van is sliding around on a wave of sloppy joe filling.
The child characters in the book are a trio of average kids: Hector, Terrence, and Dee. When they are bothered by the school bully, Milmoe, a new substitute teacher saves the day--but there's something very strange about the sub, and soon Lunch Lady is trying to figure out just what he's up to. She is assisted by another lunch lady named Betty, who is like James Bond's gadget guy, Q.
The kitchen humor continues with a hidden lab behind a fridge and gadgets made out of things like spatulas, not to mention weapons formed from fish sticks. One of my favorite pages is a view of the spy screens in Lunch Lady's lab, which show what the teachers are doing. For instance, we learn that "Mr. Johnson is reciting poetry" to his class. Of course, the poem he is reciting begins, "Beans, beans, good for your heart..." before trailing off to be completed by amused readers.
Considering the title, you will not be shocked to discover that the substitute turns out to be a robot. What's fun to follow is how Lunch Lady figures this out and what she does about it. Meanwhile, our intrepid trio of kids have begun to spy on her. This, of course, allows them to participate in the obligatory climactic fight scene.
Lunch Lady herself is a delightful creation. Her cuss words in tense moments are vegetables: "Sweet potato!" and "Cauliflower!" When she tails the villain, she says, "I'm on him like cheese on macaroni!" L.L. is brave and knows some great fight moves, but she is also dedicated to providing school meals--a satisfyingly surreal combination.
Like the Babymouse books, Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute has an inherent sweetness. The humor is goofy and lovable, the trio of children are ordinary enough to represent Everyreader, and the fight scenes are tongue in cheek. I'm very happy to see another graphic novel series served up in the children's book cafeteria. There's no mystery meat here: second and third graders are going to eat these up!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
No Mere Librarian!, August 4, 2009
This review is from: Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute (Paperback)
Move over Batman. Move over Phantom. This hero lives a little closer to our kids' reality. Enter, the Lunch Lady, cook to the hungry, nutritional guardian for the addicted, and protector of Thompson Brook School!
What do you do when a substitute seems out of the ordinary, seems too eager,and too perfect? Homework from a sub alerts the kids to a situation gone amiss, and once Lunch Lady monitors everyone else, a disturbing pattern arises! Is Teacher of the Year worth that much? How does he get the $ on a teachers salary to build so many robots?
Jarrett J Krosoczka has created a marvelous book that breaks the convention that the cafeteria cook is old and crotchety. He packs this hero with a boiler room, kitchen weapons, and an assistant with an imagination that Mr Popeil never had.
I loved this book and highly recommend it to all ages.
Tim Lasiuta
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