Sunday, June 27, 2010

Lunch Lady and the Summer Camp Shakedown by Jarrett J Krosoczka


This review and giveaway is part of a blog tour sponsored by Random House Children's Books.

This is book four of this series and my first chance to read Mr. Krosoczka's stories. I'm glad I got to participate - it's a fun read!

The story is written in graphic form (resembles the comic book form) and by the time you get to the third page, you know there's going to be excitement at camp. The older boys are threatening the younger ones with the swamp monster. Which can't be true, can it?

Imagine their surprise when they get off the bus and find their lunch lady from school at the camp. What's she doing there???

In time, they will be glad she and her assistant are there. They use wacky kitchen items to do their undercover work and fight off the enemy. Children will laugh at the silly antics going on in the story.

This book is great for those in middle school who like adventure and like to laugh. Doing the story in graphic art form is another plus for this book.

The next stop on this blog is tour is
http://lookingglassreview.blogspot.com/

Mr. Krosoczka will be dropping by my blog on 30th of June to answer any questions posted as comments. I'll be posting a few here, feel free to ask your own questions. This is your chance to chat with an author!

If you would like to have my ARC of this book, follow the steps below:
1) Leave a comment here on the blog.
2) Email me at info @ bookfaerie.com (take the spaces out of the email address) telling me why you want to read and give me your name and address for shipping.


I will pick a winner in about a week.

Questions for the author from the Book Faerie:

1) Have you always done graphic art or is this a new medium for you?

2) What gave you the idea of using the Lunch Lady as an action hero?

3) Have you ever been to summer camp?


Thanks for visiting my blog and don't forget that the blog tour is continuing for this book. The link above takes you to the next blog review and questions.

5 comments:

Djfshop said...

What sparked the idea of the lunch lady and this series? How long did it take you to write the book? Who is your favorite author

Rae said...

What first got you interested in writing? How did you choose this genre? Have you written any books in any other genre? How do you get the ideas for what you write? Do you ever get the so-called "writer's block"? I don't have children, but would this book make a nice gift for a child?

Jarrett J. Krosoczka said...

Hi Jo Ann! Thank you so much for hosting me today! And for your kind words for my latest Lunch Lady book!

Here are the answers to your questions:

1) I've always told stories with words and pictures, ever since I was a little kid. My professional career began a little over ten years ago when I received my first contract for a picture book that I wrote and illustrated. That book was Good Night, Monkey Boy. Over the years I continued to write and illustrate picture books, like Baghead and Punk Farm. I have 9 picture books published so far, with my 10th publishing in the fall of 2011 from Knopf. The graphic novel format was perfect for the story I had been working on about a crime fighting lunch lady. As you know, the 4th LL book just published. I've just finished the art for the 5th book and I've already written a treatment for the 6th LL book.

2) Back in 2001, I was visiting my old elementary school with my 1st published book and I ran into my old lunch lady. She started telling me about he grandkids and it blew my mind! My lunch lady had a life beyond school?! So it got me to thinking about the secret lives of lunch ladies...perhaps they would fight crime!

3) I never went to a summer camp as a kid, but for 6 summers I worked at the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp (and then went on to volunteer a few weeks out of the summer for the following 4 summers). So through that I certainly got to know camp culture.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka said...

Hi D---

I guess I answered the question of where the initial spark came from in the above comment, but it took a while for the series to take shape. The spark came in 2001, but the series was launched in 2009. At first the concept was a picture book, then it was a chapter book -- but neither felt like the right format. In 2005, it took shape as a graphic novel, perfect for the story I wanted to tell! But even then it took a few years to get the book up and running.

My favorite author? I love Roald Dahl and Beverly Cleary. Those are two of my childhood (and current) favorite.

Jarrett J. Krosoczka said...

Hi Rae -- I've always lived making up stories and drawing the characters. What I do now is an extension of what I loved doing as a kid. It's amazing that I get to do this for my job!

I think I answered your other questions in the posts earlier, but writers block does happen. Fortunately, I have enough going on (plenty of stories that I'm working on at once) that it never stops me in my tracks. The most exciting part of the creative process is when you finally figure out where to take your ideas.

Books are the absolute best presents to give kids! Recently I gave someone a book and used the book as a card, writing an inscription in the front.

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