Back to School Traditions- Old and New

Since the school where I teach opened on the same day as the schools in my hometown, I missed putting my children on the school bus for the first day of school. It was my first time ever missing it. That was hard for me. Really hard. I had been a stay-at-home mom for years and when I went back to work as a teacher last fall, I started after my kids. I've always sent them off with notes in their lunches, hugs, and a camera at the bus stop. They still got notes in their lunches, but the babysitter did the send off.

I wanted them to start feeling calm, prepared, and loved. They probably did. But what I fixated on was not getting that photo of them all lined up with their backpacks on. That was killing me. Irrational, I know. Luckily, I arrived home before my youngest got off his bus. So I then lined them all up for our first annual "End of the First Day" photo. Sure, everyone looks a little more wrinkled, but I got it. After the photo, as we walked to our house, I heard lots of details about the joys and frustrations of second, fifth, and sixth grades. How, by the way, did I become the mother of a middle schooler? The walk home was followed by well earned ice cream.

In my own classes, I handed out a survey about likes/dislikes, goals for English class, favorite words, and so on. Even though I am in a different high school this year, there were some similarities to last year's responses. Of course, many, many high school girls cite Twilight saga and A Walk to Remember as their favorite books. I was surprised at how many of the boys said Louis Sachar's Holes was the best book they ever read. I heard that a lot from last year's boys as well.

I hope your school year is off to a smooth start!

Welcome to Back to School Season

September has arrived and the school buses are soon to follow. We happened to drive past my daughter's elementary school yesterday, and she said, "Don't you just love the way your classroom smells on the first day of school? I love that smell!" One of her brothers asked what exactly is wrong with her brain and the other mused what it would be like to have a tail. I hope the latter's new teacher is ready for the onslaught of non sequitirs!

If I Was 13 and Artemis Fowl Was Real, I Would Totally Arm Wrestle My Daughter To Date Him

As usual, it's all thing Artemis Fowl over here at the house of th Book Bench. My ten year old daughter happily, happily, ecstatically got her hands on the newly released latest in the series, The Atlantis Complex. She is parcelling it out, just a few chapters a day to make it last longer. To fill in the gaps of non-Atlantis Complex time, she is reading the graphic novel version of the second book in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident. We have read the original novel and listened to it on CD and it is my favorite in the series. Hayden loves it because she loves the pixie villain, Opal Koboi who is deliciously evil. However, the graphic novel is like a thorn under her saddle because Opal does not look at all the way Hayden pictured her. That is irritating her no end. I'm worried that whenever the movie is made, she (we) will be disappointed

I do not have much time for "fun" books like the Artemis Fowl series because I am busily preparing for the classes I'll be teaching this fall. By the way, "this fall" means this Thursday as that's the day teachers report back to school. Anyhow, I did find a way to sneak a little Artemis in when I teach The Great Gatsby. I plan to do a lesson on Byronic heroes and have the students decide whether or not Jay Gatsby qualifies as one. Artemis is one of the many examples of contemporary Byronic heroes I will present to the class.

The Great Gatsby- Love It or Hate It?

I have just finished rereading The Great Gatsby. I will be doing it with my juniors this fall. It's one of those books that evokes strong responses from people even years after they've read it. Responses along the "Favorite book ever!" or "I hated that book lines!" Which camp do you fall in?

Black and White Brought Me Back

Because my parents are the greatest grandparents in the world, they have taken my three children to Maine with them for four days so I can lesson plan and prepare for my new teaching gig. Because I am the world's worst procrastinator, I am posting here on the blog. Don't be frightened by the dust and cobwebs- I know it's been awhile since I've written here. The summer has been an embarrassment of riches- hiking, biking, swimming, job interviewing, reading, and refereeing fights between the kids. Earlier today I did begin to focus on the curriculum for my junior English class which has a unit on modernism and postmodernism and I had an Alleluia moment. For years I have wanted to find a way to bring David Macaulay's picture book Black and White into the classroom. It is nonlinear, challenging, full of puns, and perfect for postmodernism. So now I will take my leave of this blog to go back to lesson planning, but not until I advise you to check out Macaulay's brilliant postmodern picture book. Read it with a kid you like. It will give you plenty to discuss!

Pen Pals

I have said no to all offers to substitute teach these last few weeks and have immersed myself in conspicuous parenthood. I have accompanied the fourth grade on its hiking field trip to a state park. I have attended band concerts, barbecues, and class parties. I handed out ice pops at the first grade field day, ran the scooter race station at the fourth grade field day, and ran something called "Water Works" at fifth grade field day. If it's possible, I think I have clocked more hours in elementary school than my kids have. There was one event that I missed however. In fact, parents were not invited, but what I wouldn't have paid to be a fly on the wall. It was yesterday when my daughter's fourth grade class met with their pen pals. My daughter had the great good fortune to have a creative, clever, and hard working teacher this year who brilliantly paired her students up with residents of a local retirement community as pen pals. It was a huge success for my daughter who I've always said is an old woman trapped in a little girl's body. She and her pen pal Marcia sent each other long detailed letters about their mutual love of cats and poetry. They learned that they each have a best friend named Susie. They shared details of their hobbies. Marcia sent Hayden a cd of big band music and Hayden sent Marcia a key from her key collection. That exchange went over a little better than the one in which a boy in Hayden's class received coupons clipped by his pen pal. But all in all, I think the whole program was a success. I just would have loved to watch their meeting. Luckily, the teacher took a photo of Hayden and her pen pal. The two plan to keep up their "correspondence." The whole thing makes me happy. I know receiving the letters has thrilled my daughter and I hope Marcia has enjoyed it too. I suspect she has.

These Two Have A Lot in Common

So September 2009 was when I returned to teaching after a nine year absence. I landed a nice maternity leave replacement job, worked like the dickens, and all was right with the world. The teacher I replaced returned, I started subbing with a stack of resumes to mail out for a job for this September. Only now New Jersey public schools are facing crazy big budget cuts resulting in program cuts and layoffs galore. It's looking like this very enthusiastic English teacher with a massive hole in her resume might not be able to find a job for September. It is all pretty frustrating and demoralizing especially when I am also concerned about the cuts being made in my own children's schools. What I ought to do is ignore my troubles with some good escapist fiction: science fiction, chick-lit, English mysteries, but no, instead I am reading books about teaching that make me excited about the imaginary job I probably won't find for next year. Or worse, everything I read that is not about education specifically makes me think about education anyway or about how I would use that material in a classroom. I guess I just like salt in my wounds or a big fat pity party.

Here are two examples: I just read Doug Lemov's Teach Like a Champion after reading about him in the NYTimes earlier this year. Lemov works in charter schools and has observed many successful teachers working in inner city schools. He has come up with a taxonomy of 49 techniques he has seen these teachers employ to help their students achieve. Some of it is common sense. Some of it is a fresh new way of doing things. Some of it bucks trends in education. All of it interested me and made me wish I had a book like this when I was in school to become certified. If you know someone in a teacher education program right now, I highly recommend this book. It made me think about how I use time, my voice, and the physical space of my classroom. It will remain on my desk as a reference if I should be so fortunate as to have one.

I also recently finished Steve Martin's Born Standing Up and could not help but notice the ways stand up comedy is akin to high school teaching. Both deal with controlling the audience. Both require the person at the front of the room to be entertaining, quick thinking, and reflective. I love Steve Martin from The Jerk to his SNL and Muppet Show appearances to LA Story and his novella The Shopgirl. His cleverness and embrace of the absurd delight me so of course I enjoyed this book about the development and demise of his stand up career. He writes about the stand up act with great affection but also the knowledge that that is over for him. I am still so affectionate about teaching; I certainly hope I do not have to put it on hold due to the economy. So what can I read that won't put me in mind of it? Sports Illustrated? Nope. I have a hundred ways I could use that in an English classroom. Cookbooks? No again. They make me think of Frank Mc Court's Teacher Man. I may have to take up home improvement magazines or nudie ones as there doesn't seem a book out there I can completely escape into at present. So I'm off to get some copies of Playgirl and Popular Mechanics. Just kidding.

The Best Possible Scenario

I know I have mentioned on this blog how much my kids (and I) love Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid books. It was with much glee and anticipation that we recently went to see the movie in the theater. It was funny and we laughed and elbowed each other at the good parts throughout. The best part for me, however, was as we walked out of the theater and the kids told me that although it was great, the book was better. I love when they like the book better!

It Comes in Like a Sufragette and Goes Out Like a Lamb

Earlier this week, my children were dong their homework. Big pat on the back to me because for once they were doing it at the kitchen table rather than in my car while I was driving to some sport or activity. One of the boys was working on spelling and the other was dealing with fractions. I tried to avoid eye contact with that one hoping he wouldn't call on me for help. That trick doesn't work any better now than it did back when I was in the fifth grade. My daughter did ask me for help with her homework. That should have alerted me to something strange afoot. She never asks for help. On that particular evening, however, she said she had to interview me. I figured I could answer a few questions while grilling cheese sandwiches and opening cans of soup. ( Don't judge!) After a few questions along the lines of, "When you were a girl, what career did you aspire to?" and "What is the most challenging thing about being a woman?", I had to ask what kind of homework this was. She informed that it was for Women's History Month. How did we get three weeks into Women's History Month without my realizing it I wondered and isn't it Black History month my son wondered aloud. Back to the interview questions. I had a problem with the one about what I find challenging about being a woman because I don't think my daughter's teacher really wants my honest response. Does she truly want my daughter to read aloud her homework to other fourth graders, telling them about her mother's issues with her period, approaching menopause, body image, and the high cost of bras? I didn't think so. So I lied or at least gave a wishy washy answer, but I didn't feel good about it.

Interesting to me, is the fact that I have read two great books this month about the challenges of being a woman. For my book club, I read Maggie O'Farrell's novel, The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox. It is set in Scotland and is the story of an elderly woman released from the mental hospital she was committed to as a teenager. She is released into the care of her grandniece who previously had no knowledge of the woman's existence. The plot held me in its grip from start to finish. I read about Maggie O'Farrell and her inspiration for writing this book, as the protagonist has been put in the mental institution on the flimsiest of causes. In one interview, the author cited other examples from history. It was sad and horrifying and an addictive read. I cannot wait to hear what the ladies in my book club have to say about it!

Speaking of the ladies in the book club, several of them also suggested Kate Walbert's novel, A Short History of Women. Mmm hmm; I was reading a novel with that title without realizing I was dead in the center of Women's History Month. Although I didn't enjoy this one as much as The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, it is quite good. It follows four generations of women in one family beginning with a suffragette who dies as a result of a hunger strike in England during World War I to her great granddaughters in the United States post 9/11.

So nobody can say I failed to provide a Women's History Month post. And for the fourth graders, I would much rather recommend a good book, such as The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate that I have written about on this blog, than to give them some half truths about the challenges I face as a woman.

We Have A Winner!

Today was the big day. I went in for my turn as guest reader in my son's fifth grade class. After much hemming and hawing (I hear you; I need a hobby), I chose Lane Smith's brilliant picture book, John, Paul, George & Ben. It takes hilarious liberty with snippets of history about John Hancock, Paul Revere, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. It met the requirements of being short, entertaining, and not at all babyish. Since my son's class has been studying the American Revolution in social studies it seemed like the perfect choice. There were giggles and laughs and audience participation at the end when I quizzed the students with the true and false questions Smith provides to set the record straight. In it we learned that while Benjamin Franklin did invent bifocals and the Franklin stove, he did not invent PlayStation76. This book is a lot of fun for kids who know a bit of American history. Without that bit of background, the humor is lost.

In other business, I know that I have not done a Foodie Friday post here in months. I'm not sure if I will start it up again. It is worth noting, however, that I am currently reading Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman Cooks cookbook. Last night I was inspired to make her "Comfort Meatballs" (pages 172-173). Some people sing for their supper; last night I sang to my supper. To know, know, know you is to love, love, love you... Delicious! Next up from The Pioneer Woman Cooks: "Simple, Perfect Enchiladas" (pages 176-178).

Oh The Pressure!

Looking at that title, you may be wondering what kind of pressure I am experiencing. Or maybe you are not wondering, but I plan to tell you. First, there is water pressure. Glorious, wonderful water pressure has been restored in my home. I've been flushing toilets with abandon for at least an hour now. Apparently my water will be running brown and dirty for a few days, but at least it's running.

That settled, I can worry about more bookish matters. Here is the other pressure in my life: I have been invited to be Guest Reader in my fifth grade son's classroom this Friday. I have twenty minutes to read to the class. What do I choose? Keep in mind, he will be in middle school next year and there will be no more guest reading. What should I choose to entertain this audience?

Last year Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Duck! Rabbit! was a huge hit. It inspired conversation and doodling.

Several times in the past I have read Tomie De Paola's Fin M'Coul. It is the perfect choice for March and I love to lay it on thick with the Irish brogue.

I am looking for something different this year. My son's teacher told me I will be reading immediately before phys ed class (I've been informed by my first grader that "Gym is a room and Physical Education is a class.") Maybe I should read about an inspirational athlete. David Adler's biographies of Lou Gehrig and Gertrude Ederle might be good selections. What to choose? Any suggestions?

A Little Shakespeare on This Thursday

At a recent holiday party, the elementary school aged son of my school's principal asked one of the English teachers present to tell him a story. All she could come up with off the top of her head was Shakespeare's Hamlet. I believe she was in the middle of teaching it at school. She kept him happily entertained. I love that story. Actually, I love both stories- the one of the Christmas party and Hamlet. I do not love everything the Bard wrote, but I can see the influence of the storyteller. In the hands of a good storyteller (teacher, director, reader), it is easy to see why Shakespeare's works have stood the test of time. In the hands of a bad storyteller (ie the nun who taught my junior and senior years of high school English), studying Shakespeare's plays can make a student fall asleep, cry, or fantasize futilely about worse tortures. In the hands (or camera or mouth) of a good storyteller, Shakespeare's works can thrill and delight. For example, I read King Lear in high school and thought it was awful and boring and made little sense. Two years later in college it was taught to me by a professor visiting from England. He wore a big knitted scarf everyday, knew all of the play by heart it seemed, and loved it like it was a baby. I'll never forget him or how he made me see King Lear as a fabulous and heartbreaking family story. I've really liked the play ever since, although I haven't read it in about a dozen years. Then Gareth Hinds' graphic novel version came across my desk this week. I like King Lear even more now and would definitely use this book with my students if I ever have occasion to teach Lear in the future. First, I know that graphic novels can be a bridge, a way in, for many students. Secondly, the artwork is great and much of Shakespeare's language is kept. Finally, there is something about the way Hinds positions the characters on the page that makes the experience feel as much like viewing a dramatic production as it feels like reading a book. I am now curious to check out Gareth Hinds' version of The Merchant of Venice.

Misc. Items

I want to write about a variety of book related topics that have occurred to me this week, but I feel I must begin with the title of this post. I wrote "Misc." on the chalkboard at school this week and more than one student asked me what it meant. I explained that it was an abbreviation for miscellaneous and I was asked twice why I didn't bother spelling that word out. That struck me as highly ironic since so many of my students write in such a way that I can tell they are of the texting generation. Their papers are filled with "&," "b/c," "w/" and "LOL." Yes, "LOL" on an essay. I spoke with another teacher who told me to brace myself for the emoticons that are sure to come, as in "It was sad when Romeo and Juliet died at the end of the play :(" I didn't see that when I was last teaching high school students almost ten years ago.

On a positive note, this week I had one of my best book conversations in the classroom ever. I was discussing Benjamin Franklin's autobiography and his "Speech in the Convention." I asked the kids what they think he valued based on their reading and was met with blank stares. Someone said he might have valued the Philadelphia Eagles because (b/c?) he lived in Philly. After we went over the fact that football was not played in the colonies nor was there an NFL, I asked if it had been played then, what position did they think old Ben would have played based on what they read by him. They warmed to the topic so quickly. I then asked if he was dropped into our society today, what sport would he enjoy the most based on what they read. The answers were brilliant and I left work happy that day.


Speaking of leaving work, I have something to listen to now on my drive home. A friend just lent me the audio book of Spencer Quinn's Dog On It, I've been told that it's a humorous whodunit with a canine narrator. Chet the dog and his owner, a down on his luck private investigator, solve a crime and have some adventures in this story that I have been assured I will enjoy greatly. While I'm in no hurry for Monday to get here, I am less cranky about my long commute now that I've got Dog On It to look forward to.

Oh Books, How I've Missed You!

Here's a bit of irony for you: I've been so busy working as a high school English teacher that I've been unable to read a book all week. Actually, I've been busy teaching high school and having three children who are all playing soccer this season, who all like to eat dinner, and who all want someone to check their homework. It's taking a toll on my reading for pleasure. I haven't even read a newspaper this week. Don't worry, I am all caught up with my Newsweek and Entertainment Weekly magazines. A girl does have to stay current after all. But I miss my books. It's a heartache walking past my night table and seeing that yummy looking stack gathering dust.

Luckily for me, I happened to ask the more than one hundred sophomores that I teach to write about the most memorable book they ever read. I only asked for two or three sentences from each. Every single kid found at least one book he or she could write about. Some told me it was to hard to narrow it down. Some gave me eight, nine, ten sentences about books they found memorable for either good or bad reasons. What fun I had reading their responses. So many of the girls named Twilight (one of the books on my to-read list), but there were Harry Potters, Holes, Unfortunate Events, Wayside Schools, Nancy Drews, Boxcar Children, The Outsiders, and more. It was like walking through a doughnut shop on a diet. It was tantalizing but also satisfying just to sniff the air, so to speak. I am more determined than ever to carve out a little book time in my schedule. 4 a.m. maybe?

Old School Week

My son' s homework for first grade this weekend was to find his favorite book from home to bring to school and share with his classmates. The students are not expected to read the books to the class, just share why they like them. I think that's great; I love a good book talk. The assignment got my husband and I talking about favorite books of ours from when we were Ethan's age. We both loved Caps for Sale. Who doesn't? We both remembered a book about an old man whose beard grows so long that birds build nests in it, but unfortunately we could not remember the title. Bill remembers loving Millions of Cats. That book never really did it for me, but oh, how I loved Miss Suzy! I dreamed of that book as a girl and read it so much! It is the story of a gray squirrel who is driven out of her oak tree home by some very mean red squirrels. Thank heavens she finds a doll house to live in and some toy soldiers to befriend. I haven't read it in years, but am now inspired to find a copy. Ethan chose the first Nate the Great book to share with his fellow first graders. All this strolling down literary memory lane has made me declare this Old School Week here at the Book Bench, celebrating books and things I loved back in the day-o. Feel free to comment with your old school favorites!

Back to School

My children boarded the school buses for the first time this year less than an hour ago. While I should be doing research and writing lesson plans for my return to work as a high school English teacher next week, I first need to blog the lump out of my throat. I am pretty blue this morning. My baby is headed to first grade! How can that be? Plus, it was a really fun summer packed with swimming, bike rides, ice pops, and loafing around. While I'm kind of sad, I am caught up in the excitement of the new school year and am happy that my kids all left with big smiles on their faces. Really big ones. Look:

I like that picture, but I recently read an article about taking back to school photos that describes just that pose as cliche and expected. The article suggested taking photos of backpacks, school lunches, or shoes lined up at the door. Eh. Our backpacks aren't too inspiring

and you don't want to see the state of my boys' shoes. so I lined up the family water bottles, and while that picture may say "Make love not landfills," it doesn't say "Back to School."

The older kids each were asked to bring a book for pleasure reading to school today. Lucky public school kids! Let me say I attended Catholic schools until college and was never told to bring a book for pleasure reading or do anything else pleasurable for that matter. Maybe a photo of the books would be a nice non-cliche memory, but my ten year old son was still hemming and hawing between Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories from The Wayside School and a nonfiction book called The Kid Who Invented Popsicles as we walked out the door this morning. This is what my nine year old daughter packed:

She absolutely loves the wickedly evil pixie Opal Koboi in Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl books. It's a nice cover, but that shot doesn't scream "School Days" either. I believe the following picture does capture the essence of beginning school in September 2009. It is of what I think is the most important school supply my children have with them today, because as I was shouting "I love you! Have a great day!" what I was really thinking this morning as they got on those buses was "I love you, and don't you dare bring home swine flu!"

Here Comes Fall

It's T minus four days until my kids go back to school. Fortunately we've had a bit of a cool snap here in northern New Jersey which makes the idea of school seem logical rather than horrible. We've had a week of weather that makes you grab a sweater and think about apple picking and high school football games. The cool days inspired a bit of organization. Don't worry- it didn't result in full on fall cleaning. We straightened up a bit and returned all of the library books, audio books, and DVDs we've amassed this summer. So long, Artemis Fowl. Fare thee well, Geronimo Stilton. Now I need to dust around the book bench, dagnabbit! The kids and I also made our annual school supply shopping trip armed with lists mailed to us by their teachers. I could get on my high horse about suburban teachers requiring expensive and hard to find items like twistable colored pencils, but frankly that high horse is exhausted. Fortunately, the whole $5.49 twistable colored pencil thing didn't kill the joy I get from sniffing new notebooks and organizing folders and loose leaf paper.


One other side effect of this autumnal weather is that it has inspired a whole rash of play dates. My kids have been hanging out with friends like crazy before homework and soccer practice get in the way. A few days ago, I had three boys building a fort in my yard and three girls playing "Adoption Center" with baby dolls in the house. And while I know it would have made Gloria Steinem wince, I let everyone stay in their little gender role boxes. In fact, I eavesdropped a bit on the adoption center, and it was more compelling than any soap opera I have ever seen! After that, I provided conditioner for a Barbie makeover. Yesterday, it was girls baking cupcakes in the kitchen while little boys ran through the room with paper towel tube light sabers. I tried to mix it up some by having the boys help decorate the cupcakes. They did so while saying, "Sayonara, sucker!" to every sprinkle they ate and by coming up with synonyms for "constipation" and "diarrhea." Won't their language arts teachers be pleased with their verbal skills next week?


Here's hoping that the weather stays cool enough that they don't resent climbing aboard the big yellow bus next week, but not so cool that it ruins recess, because everyone knows that recess is the best part of the day!

I'm A Sucker for a School Bus

I saw the cover of Gordon Korman's Schooled and knew I had to pick it up. I'm a sucker for a yellow school bus. I've always been that way; it's not just these last weeks of kids home on summer vacation talking. I've bought yellow school bus shaped cookies, PostIt notes, pencil boxes, and rulers in my day. This past weekend while my kids were oohing and ahhing over funky Habitrail type cages for their pet gerbil, I was trying to convince them that a little yellow school bus shaped one with a handle would be perfect for Mario, our family pet. They nixed my suggestion, but I bought the Korman book. I'm glad I did. It's a funny and satisfying read for tweens, telling the story of Capricorn (Cap) Anderson who was raised on a farm commune and home schooled by his grandmother named Rain. When Rain has to stay in a hospital after falling out of a tree picking plums, Cap ends up living with a social worker and her teenage daughter and attending a public middle school. There is a great deal of fish out of water humor. Can you imagine a teenaged, sandal wearing, tye died hippie who's never watched television in your local eighth grade? It's not just outsider gags though. There is a lot for young readers to think about in terms of what makes someone popular and how they respond to teasing and unkindness. I'm glad the cover sucked me in. It worked its charm on my nine year old daughter too. She saw the book on my night table and uttered "Ooooh. Can I read this after you?" However, she might also have been attracted by the author's name. She's a big Gordon Korman fan.

The Lunch Lady: Serving Sloppy Joes, Jokes, and Justice!

How happy am I? Lunch Lady happy. That's going to be my new measurement of happy because these books are so enjoyable. When I lose a few pounds or see a great movie, I'm going to tell people the experience made me Lunch Lady happy. Speaking of movies, I've read that Universal Studios has picked up the movie rights to this series with Amy Poehler to star! Now I'm even more Lunch Lady happier (that needs a little work).

Let me back up and tell you that my daughter and I have just finished reading the newly released Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute and Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians. The length, humor, and subject matter of these books make them ideal for second through fourth grade readers. The limited color palette reminds me of the popular Babymouse books with yellow here substituting for pink. The plots, however, are very different.

Lunch Lady is, of course, a lunch lady by day, but she's a a crime fighter in her off duty hours. She's wonderful, but the real fun in these books (for me) comes from her sidekick Betty. In the boiler room, Betty, like James Bond's Q or Foaly in the Artemis Fowl series, supplies Lunch Lady with the gadgets that make her crime fighting possible. As we know from Batman, Bond, and Inspector Gadget, all crime fighters without superpowers need super gadgets. Betty invents a spatulacopter, Taco-vision Night Goggles, Hover Pizzas, and more. The possibilities for cafeteria technology are endless and I can't wait to see what author Jarrett J. Krosoczka will have Betty create in future adventures of Lunch Lady.

Only three students in the school, Hector, Terrence, and Dee (aka The Breakfast Bunch) know that Lunch Lady and Betty do more than just ladle out helpings of tuna surprise. It's unclear what grade the students are in, but that's okay. Having them be in a particular grade might limit the appeal of these books. Their involvement creates opportunities for a variety of adventures. For instance, the plot of the second book revolves around the simultaneous release of a new video game system and the annual school book fair. I love that the villains in that one have created The League of Librarians, although one of their number, high school librarian Jane Shelver, makes it clear that she prefers the term media specialist. This and many other little details make the Lunch Lady books fun even for a hesitant graphic novel reader such as myself.

Today's Special

For most of elementary and middle school, I attended a Catholic school which served hot lunch only once a week. The high school I attended provided a mere 25 minutes for lunch. In order to spend more time yakking with my friends and touching up my 80s hairstyle and less time on line, I never once purchased a hot lunch in those four years. Rather, I bought from the a la carte menu (one turkey or roast beef sandwich, one can Diet Pepsi, one bag Dipsy Doodle chips and either a Reeses peanut butter cup or package of mini powdered donuts if I had an athletic practice that day). As a teacher, I always brown bagged it. Therefore, I've had minimal contact with lunch ladies in my life. For all I knew, the hairnetted stereotypes and Chris Farley SNL skit could be spot-on accurate.

That is until I sent my oldest son to first grade. Every once in awhile, I would send him to school with money for the oh so exciting purpose of buying lunch. Apparently he impressed the lunch ladies with his eagerness and manners. Right before his birthday that year, I received a phone call at home from one of the lunch ladies who said something along the lines of, "Hi, I'm Mrs. So and So, I'm a cafeteria worker at your son's school. I hope you don't think this is strange and I wanted to clear it with you. Can I give your son a birthday present? I love talking with him and I found a gift I think he'll love." That's how we ended up with a Sea Monkey tank on our kitchen windowsill for two years.

That same son of mine has moved on to fifth grade. At his current school, there are days when he is the only customer for soup. I send him in with a bagged lunch most days and a dollar for soup. He comes home raving about the Italian Wedding Soup, the minestrone, the navy bean, and so on. Sure, lots of kids purchase chicken noodle and tomato, but on other days, he's the only soup eater. The lunch ladies see him in the hallways and tell him what the soup of the day will be. They have also hand delivered cups of soup to his lunch table and given him free refills. He loves those ladies. So of course I'm going to have to get him Jarrett Kroscoczka's new graphic novel Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute. It's the first in a planned series aimed at seven to ten year olds. I don't know much more about it yet, but it certainly looks fun!