Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes

Bibliography

Krosoczka, Jarrett. Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012. ISBN 9780375870286

Plot Summary

To set the stage, Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes opens to the lunch ladies stopping a robbery. The main story is about three students who made a bad decision and as punishment are forced to join the mathlete team and compete with them in the upcoming competition. At first the students are reluctant, but, once challenged by the opposing team, they put all their effort into winning. The mathletes have a commanding lead, but something is foul with the opposing team. One of the Lunch Ladies goes to investigate. She runs into trouble after finding out the real story of their competitors, and the custodian comes to her rescue! At the final championship, the mutant mathletes make their appearance and the lunch ladies are there to protect everyone with their food weapons, like a pineapple mace. 

Critical Analysis

Lunch Lady and the Mutant Mathletes is a fun read with quirky characters. The book is designed as a graphic novel. This style lends itself to the problem-solving questions and plot of the book. It also worked for the action scenes. It comes off very Batman and Robin with the two crime fighting Lunch Ladies. The dialogue is focused and helps drive the plot. The graphic novel reads differently than a fiction novel but, again, it lent itself to the plot to have the illustrations support the dialogue and vice versa. 

The characters grow throughout the book as they learn loyalty to their team and confidence in their ability to do math. Over time, student pride beams through the initial reluctance to join the team. Also, the Lunch Ladies are very proud of their work saving the students and the school. 

There are some predictable moments as the team gets teased by the football players and are called nerds. This really didn’t need to be in there, since it did not move the plot along, but the kids will enjoy reading it, so it works. There were also some stereotyped school features, such as the teachers holding coffee cups and the Lunch Ladies serving fish sticks at lunch. Although stereotypical, the images help set the stage for time and place, since any public school student can relate to these features. 

Personally, this was a fun read. This is my first graphic novel and I can see why they are very popular with this age group. 

Review Excerpts

Graphic Novel Reporter

“The Lunch Lady books are fun, quick reads for kids, with lots of zany and culinary-inspired humor. Though Lunch Lady is the titular character, she’s only in part of the book, with Dee, Hector, and Terrence also being important characters. The art has that purposefully cartoony style, like something you might see on Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon, and the colors come in black, gray, white, and yellow. Is that to bring more attention to Lunch Lady’s yellow gloves? Lunch Lady’s definitely the one who steals the show, and readers who enjoy this book ought to check out the others in the series.”

Connections

-  This book would be easily adapted into a dynamic skit.

-  Students could be encouraged to read other books from the Lunch Lady Series.