Genre 6 (Fiction, Fantasy &YA) Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit.

Lunch Lady and the Bake

Sale Bandit

By: Jarrett K. Krosoczka

BIBLIOGRAPHY   

Krosoczka, Jarrett J. 2010. LUNCH LADY AND THE BAKE SALE BANDIT. New York, N.Y. Random House: ISBN: 978-0-375-86729-3

SUMMARY

The Breakfast Bunch has a huge problem! Someone has stolen all of the baked goods for their bake sale so they can raise money for a field trip to the museum. Don’t worry. The Bunch is on a mission to catch the thief who is sabotaging their sale.

CRITICAL REVIEW

What a fun book for everyone!

Jarrett Krosoczka has pieced together a laugh-out-loud funny comic book-like, graphic novel adventure that is easy for his readers to read and follow along with while the Breakfast Bunch catches the bake sale bandit “one crumb at a time.”  Krosoczka’s graphic novel’s humorous situations and exaggerated characters such as “Buszilla,” a bus that eats people, and the “Lunch Cycle,” a  scooter that squirts macaroni and cheese out of the tail pipe, are features of this low fantasy novel that make it that much more interesting and adventurous for young readers. The fun doesn’t stop with the bake sale bandit; Krosoczka has an entire fantasy series of Lunch Lady graphic novels for his readers to enjoy.   

Krosoczka has developed believable and realistic characters that have personalities and features with which many of his young readers will identify. Dee, Hector, and Terrence are middle school students who are curious and ready to solve a mystery at anytime. Along with these three characters there is a know-it-all fellow student named Orson, who is also Hall Monitor, a crusading health teacher named Mrs. Calahan, a crazy bus driver named Brenda, and a crabby custodian named Kalowski. Krosoczka’s Lunch Lady character has an amusing and clever way of referring to food in her conversations, which is an added bonus of humor for his readers. “It’s as dark as the inside of a chocolate doughnut in here! DWOOOSH! The lights are back on. Lunch Lady look! Jumping jelly! The bake sale goodies are gone!” All of Krosoczka’s characters contribute to keeping the story interesting and engaging for the reader. Krosoczka’a characters are consistent throughout the novel, which contributes to the realistic feel of the mystery behind the bake sale goodies going missing.   

Krosoczka has firmly grounded his story in reality at the beginning with Dee, Hector, and Terrence getting on the school bus in the rain, and then gradually moved into fantasy as the lights came back on in the school and the bake sale items were gone. Krosoczka’s fun and entertaining plot provides his readers with a mystery to solve, obstacles to overcome and big scary school bus monsters to defeat. At times graphic novels can be hard to follow, not knowing which bubble to read first, but Krosoczka's story is organized and planned appropriately for his readers. Krosoczka has brilliantly set his stories in a school house. This is a building in which almost every young reader is comfortable. The story uses loud and bold words such as “YEE-HAW”, “WWWWAAAAAAHHHHHHH”, “BBBRRRRRIIIIINNNGGGGG”, “DWOOOOSH”, and  “WWHHOOOSSSHHH” that jump right of the page allowing readers to see, hear and feel the setting as they follow along with the Breakfast Bunch and their corky lunch lady.

Krosoczka has pinpointed the language of his audience. The language used throughout the text is current and makes one feel as if he is listening to conversations between young children. Krosoczka uses phrases such as “What’s up now?!”, “Are you serious?, Out of my way, Orson.” She’s nuts! I’ll say!”, “But we were trying to…” and “My mom is going to kill me.” Krosoczka has created characters that have their own distinct personalities that can be identified through his writing style. Dee is outgoing and demanding, Orson is noisy and carries a chip on his shoulder, Lunch Lady is courageous and caring, Kalowski is frustrated and mad, Mrs. Calahan is passionate and grumpy, and Hector is reserved and a rule follower. 

Krosoczka’s yellow, black, and white cartoon scenes are consistent with the pace of the story. The images are energetic and lively adding to the excitement and mystery of the story. The bright yellow illustrations create an energetic feel for the graphic novel that his readers will appreciate.     

Lunch Lady Series is a great starting point for young readers who are new to fantasy. Lunch Lady and the Bake Sale Bandit is also a fun reader for avid fantasy readers as well.  I would recommend this graphic novel to all readers of any age. The action packed novel doesn’t end there for his readers.  Krosoczka ends his story with the notion that there will be another mystery to solve on their field trip to the museum. The Lunch Lady series should definitely be a part of every reader’s fantasy collection.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Kirkus Review – “A delightfully fun escapist read. Be sure to recommend this to fans of Captain Underpants.”

School Library Journal – “With its appealing mix of action and humor, this clever, entertaining addition to the series should have wide appeal.”

 Booklist – “This tongue-in-check superheroine graphic novel will hit the spot for chapter-book review.” 

WHAT THE KIDS ARE SAYING

“It’s an action-packed book of yellowy wonder.”  - Gracie

“This book was so awesome. I sucked it in. I CONSUMED it.”  - Jack

“Very, very, very, very good.” - Christine

CONNECTIONS

 Related Text

Lunch Lady and the Field Trip Fiasco – Jarrett J. Krosoczka - ISBN-13: 978-0375867309

Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute - Jarrett J. Krosoczka - ISBN-13: 978-0375846830

Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians - Jarrett J. Krosoczka - ISBN-13: 978-0375846847

Webpage

Jarrett J. Krosoczka’s personal webpage:

Link: http://www.studiojjk.com/  

Blog

Jarrett J. Krosoczka personal blog spot:

Link: http://thejjkblog.blogspot.com/

Activity 1

Creative Writing and Art

Have readers create their own comic book strips. 

Activity 2

The following activities can be found at:

Link: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/activities/activities-using-comic-strips 

Tell the story

Cut up the pictures and get students to reorder the story. Make this more difficult and challenging linguistically by giving separate frames to each student in a group and ask them to not show the pictures until they have arrived at an order through describing the pictures.

Remove the last picture of a cartoon and ask students to think of an ending. Artistic students may like to draw the last frame. Vote for the best ending.

Remove the sentences under each frame and either ask lower levels to match them to each frame or ask them to write the sentences that tell the story. Lower levels might need vocabulary prompts on the board.