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| Image retrieved from www.amazon.com |
1. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Krosoczka, Jarrett J. Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit. New York, Random House, Inc.: 2010. ISBN: 9780375867293
2. PLOT SUMMARY
Today is the day for students to bring their goodies for the bake sale that will raise money for their upcoming field trip. When the goodies go missing, Lunch Lady doesn’t skip a beat. She immediately begins looking for clues to find who stole them. When the school day ends, the Breakfast Bunch takes it upon themselves to find the bake sale bandit. When they discover the bandit is Brenda the bus driver, she snatches them away on a bus ride. But they’re not gone for long. Their superhero Lunch Lady comes to save the day - and the bake sale.
3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit takes place in a school - one of the most familiar settings for young adults. The book starts out on the school bus and takes the reader through the locker-lined school hallways, to the cafeteria, and into classrooms. The book briefly moves away from the school setting for the Lunch Lady to make her superhero move, but it quickly returns. Not only are the school sights familiar to the reader, but sounds and smells are as well - from the school bell ringing to the cafeteria’s soggy tacos. Students can easily relate to the characters in the novel because of their own school experiences.
The main characters in the book are a group of students called the Breakfast Bunch. They seem to be typical students, with just a little bit of rebellion in them - or courage, depending on how you see it. They skip after school detention for the sake of catching the bake sale bandit. Other characters include the high school principal, bus driver, the janitor, and the superhero lunch lady. The bus driver is a deceptive character who drives recklessly and is mean to the kids, but who is on her best behavior when the principal is around and comes across as a model employee to him. The lunch lady, one of the most unlikely characters to steal the show in a book, turns out to be the hero of the book. She even uses her apron as a parachute after defeating the evil bus driver. Students will be endeared to the lunch lady character and might even walk through the cafeteria line with a new-found respect for their own lunch lady.
The reader is introduced to the evil bus driver from the very beginning of the book, creating a plot that involves a quest to overcome her, the villain of the book. Since most students only know their bus drivers as quiet, private people who simply drive along their route opening and closing the bus door at each stop, it makes sense that one would secretly be a villain. A villain bus driver might even go as far as stealing goodies from a bake sale. Choosing the secretive bus driver to play a villain makes the plot logical and believable.
The theme of good versus evil reigns throughout the book. The bus driver steals the bake sale goodies and the “good guys” spend the rest of the book trying to find the thief. In the end, the good lunch lady battles the evil bus driver, and she wins. Good overcomes evil and the bake sale goes on as planned.
The illustrations in this graphic novel are laid out well. The pages are not too crowded or busy. Most pages only hold three or four panels, which allows the reader to focus on what is happening in that panel and follow the flow of the story more easily. Each illustration is drawn using black, gray, and yellow. While these simple colors seem like they might leave the reader wanting more, each color is used to highlight something important from the story. For example, the speech bubbles that say “STOP!” and “WHISTLE” are shaded in yellow to emphasize them. These colors are used well to draw the reader’s eyes to the most important item in each panel.
Krosoczka’s creativity in writing this book and others in the Lunch Lady series will go a long way with young adult readers. He has chosen a topic and characters that students will relate to and will be left craving to read more of their adventures.
4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
From BOOKLIST - “The high action of the yellow-washed, black-and-white cartoon panels is echoed in the narrative’s pacing. The end clearly sets up the gang’s next adventure.”
5. CONNECTIONS
Gather other books in the Lunch Lady series such as:
- Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute. 0375846832
- Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. 0375846840
- Lunch Lady and the Author Visit Vendetta. 0375860940
Gather other books written by Jarrett J. Krosoczka to read such as:
- Comics Squad: Recess!. ISBN 0385370032
- Platypus Police Squad: The Frog Who Croaked. ISBN 0062071645
- Peanut Butter and Jellyfish. ISBN 0375870369
Have students create and draw their own superhero character. Then have them write their own graphic short story about the character and his/her adventures.
