Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians

Hairnet donned and stainless steel spoon in hand, the lunch lady is an ageless icon of elementary schools everywhere, but seldom do they have an opportunity to kick some evil genius booty.  Jarrett J. Krosoczka, author of Max for President and the Punk Farm books (and forever esteemed in my school as the illustrator of Bubble Bath Pirates), has provided such an opportunity.  

This is the second in the Lunch Lady series, in which Lunch Lady, her trusty sidekick and three elementary school kids employ fabulous spy gear to catch the dastardly League of Librarians, who plan to steal a shipment of new game controllers (so the kids will read more?  It's hard to say).

Of the kids, Dee is the one who loves to read, and she also takes the lead when defending Lunch Lady against the eeeeevil librarians.  There's plenty of POW, SMACK and WHAMMO, but also some creative plotting and fun dialogue.  Lunch Lady's whimsical, food-inspired epithets add a dash of spice -- pun definitely intended.

Clever, for boys and girls of all ages, and full of "gifty nadgets," it's great to see the poor, ignored lunch ladies get a starring role at last.  

This book is a 2009 Cybils round 1 nomination.  

Awesomeness: 7  -- unique and funny make it a great package for the elementary crowd

Wordsmithing: 6 -- love the silly sayings

Personages: 5 -- cardboard characters with no development, but what would you expect from a superhero book

Mesmerizitude: 5 -- light and fun, but no real connection here

Illustrations: 7 -- just the right amount of detail