Lunch Lady and the Picture Day Peril - Book Review

This post was written as a Master's course assignment for Texas Woman's University.

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY

Krosoczka, Jarrett J. 2012. LUNCH LADY AND THE PICTURE DAY PERIL. New York, NY: Random House, Inc. ISBN 9780375870354

2. PLOT SUMMARY

A seemingly normal school picture day goes awry as Lunch Lady, Betty, and the Breakfast Bunch catch wind of an impostor in the school. The Breakfast Bunch is on to Stefani's wiles, especially when a large chunk of school activity money goes missing.The whole gang works together, in the name of teenage acne, to sort out the mystery of the sneaky Stefani and to bring the thief to justice.

3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS

The superhero "Lunch Lady" represents a population of under served professionals, indeed (pun intended). This hilarious graphic novel uses excellent wordplay and humor to spice up the most unlikely of superheroes... the school lunch lady. 

Along with her sidekick, Betty, Lunch Lady sniffs out the suspicious Stefani, the photographer for school picture day who seems a little too nice. Her compliments seem contrived as she butters up all of the students for their portraits: "Geek is so chic right now" and "You bring such a sparkle to this project" (to the girl with braces). 

Krosoczka's language is masterful and clever, with Lunch Lady and Betty spouting phrases like Batman and Robin: "Soggy cereal, what is going on?" Lunch Lady's superhero special "serving tools" add another humorous layer to the tale, especially her "Fancy Ketchup-Packet Laser," "Mustard Grappling Hook," and "Chicken Nugget Bomb," all useful in getting her out of a tight spot. The reader experiences plenty of laugh-out-loud moments as Lunch Lady comes to the rescue. The theme of good triumphing over evil plays a large role in this story, as well as the tendency of the underdog to beat the odds and win.

The illustrations are mostly tri-tones, in yellow, black, and white, with some color variations (lighter/darker hues, pale vs. bright, etc.). The artistic style includes dazzling pen and ink drawings with digital coloring. The cartoon-like characters each have their own definitive style, especially in their hair-dos (spiky for some, wavy and triangular for others). With a technique reminiscent of Roy Lichtenstein, Krosoczka weaves the story together through excellent, expressive pictures and his own powerhouse styling.

4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

Review from KIRKUS: "A delightfully fun escapist read."

Review from BOOKLIST: "Krosoczka's inventive visual details, spot-on characterizations, and grade-school humor make this a standout graphic-novel series." 

5. CONNECTIONS

*See other books in the LUNCH LADY series, also by Jarrett Krosoczka.

*For other schoolhouse humor, see also SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL by Louis Sachar and Julie Brinkloe, ISBN 9780380731480.