Secrets of New Forest Academy

Janitors #2

by Tyler Whitesides

Spencer stood up, anxiously scanning the library for movement. Instinctively, his hand reached into his backpack to grip a small Ziploc bag of magical vacuum dust. Spencer turned a slow circle, eyes flicking from bookshelf to bookshelf. The students were showing all the signs—so where were the Toxites?

Now more than ever, Spencer, Daisy, and even Dez must fight to save schools everywhere. Toxites, the small creatures that love to feed on the brain waves of students, are just the beginning of their troubles.

The Bureau of Educational Maintenance (BEM) is after Spencer, and the Rebels hope to sneak him to safety within the walls of an elite private school. But danger follows Spencer and his friends, testing their loyalty and trust as well as their Toxite-fighting skills. Can they hold out long enough to discover the true secret of New Forest Academy and what it means to the future of education?

Genres: Fantasy, Middle Grade, Fiction, Young Adult, Childrens, Adventure, Juvenile

321 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2012

Reviews

[Susie Angerbauer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great read-aloud. Kids couldn't wait to read this book after the first one. They enjoyed it immensely & are asking when the third book will be available.

As in the first book, the plot has exciting twists and turns. I think that the author has honed his skills -- I found the writing to be better (and funnier!) than his first time around.

A fun read!

[Erin Pauley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm just not sure magical janitor stories are for me, I think this would have appealed to me a lot more had I picked it up as a twelve year old. I would recommend this for kids but as an adult who loves kids/YA novels these books just aren't doing it for me. Not sure if I will read the rest of them but if I do I hope I can get into them a little more.

[Izzy · Rating 5 out of 5]

great book cant wait till 4 and 5 come out

[Elise Derr Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hold on tight, because you're in for more exciting twists and turns in Book Two of the Janitors series! Meet new friends -- and enemies -- at New Forest Academy. Spencer and Daisy try out new Glopified supplies and face bigger challenges.

**********
Our children love to read Tyler Whitesides' books together at night. They always beg for more chapters, and moan and groan when we have to stop for the night! They love to speculate and to cheer Spencer on or grieve his misfortunes. It's really easy to get lost in the pages of Janitors!

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 4 out of 5]

BEM Janitors have infiltrated their school, forcing Spencer and Daisy - and a reluctantly recruited Dez - to attend a private school until the coast is clear, unknowingly throwing themselves into further peril when their supposed new ally turns out to be a dangerous enemy. Whitesides amps up the fun, humour and excitement in an entertaining sequel sure to hook readers once again. Can Spencer and his friends survive a week with their sudden adversary, or have they escaped the frying pan only to end up under fire?

[Jacque · Rating 4 out of 5]

We also listened to this book on part of our long drive. It was also a fun story that the kids really enjoyed. I liked it, but certain aspects were weird to me. I think it was in this book they introduced the founding witches. While it does have a very different storyline from Harry Potter, some things in the book start to sound a little Harry-ish!

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

My 9-year-old loved this and made me start book 3 tonight because of the cliffhanger. A great series for grades 3-5.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Today I'm reviewing the first couple books in the Janitors series by Tyler Whitesides. These are middle grade fantasy books, and I just cannot say enough good about them.

I am a mom of kids that love to read. Sometimes it's hard to find books that are clean (no swearing, profanity or sex) but that are still good enough to hold my kid's attention. This is a series that has all the good things I'm looking for. I only have one middle grade reader left in my house, but I'm super excited to pass these books off to her because I know she is going to enjoy them. My 18 year old son actually picked these books up and read them through before I had a chance to read them. They were far below his reading level but he said that as a middle grade reader he would have loved them. Even as a young adult he kept reading them because he thought the whole premise and idea of the book was original. He said he hadn't read another book quite like them before.

I loved the pictures and diagrams that went along with this book. That's one thing I love about middle grade books~ the added bonus of pictures! I too thought the idea for these books were original and interesting. Kids will love all the little creatures roaming the schools and they will love the creative use of school janitor supplies to catch them.

Spencer is a great kid. I love his little OCD tendencies about germs and cleanliness. It is the little things that endear me to Spencer. Daisy and Spencer together make a great team. These books are full of things that all kids will relate to from teachers to family and school dynamics. There is humor and action.

I am looking forward to reading the third book in this series. My review for that will be coming in September. By then I'm hoping to include a report of how my middle grade reader loved them. :)

[Sheila (sheilasbookreviewer) · Rating 4 out of 5]

More great adventures with Spencer and Daisy in this 2nd book in the series. I liked it a lot! There were more fun magic supplies and the bad guy, Slick, was just nasty! My son is starting the series next.

[Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very clever YA book! Great character and world building!

Second Read - This is a very fun read! There are some interesting twists that really keep you guessing what is going to happen. Good morals too.

[Shanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full review coming soon.

[Taran Stout · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book, it had a huge turn that I did not see coming at all. I hope the rest of the series will be this good.

[Spencer R. · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Spencer and Daisy continue to be rid of the toxicites from their school, they have to be moved to a safer spot at a school named New Forest Academy. While at the school they figure out that it is run by the BEM, (an organization that lets toxicites run wild) and has a BEM janitor that tried to catch them. After the janitor's failed attempts at trying to catch Spencer and Daisy, their mentor Walter saved them and told them about how Spencer's long lost father could be at New Forest Academy. So, Spencer and Daisy went back in to rescue Spencer's father. After many close calls and a lot of used up janitor equipment , Spencer and Daisy manage to rescue Spencer's dad. And thing went back to normal..... or did they?

In the story "Janitors: Secrets of New Forest Academy" the main conflict really affects the characters and how they act. The main conflict is the BEM trying to take over and letting toxicites run free. Because the BEM lets the toxicites run free, Spencer and Daisy are always alert for any toxicites. This makes it really hard to focus in their classes, in turn creating many trips to the principal's office. On the other hand, the characters of the BEM, in order to keep gaining power and control, have to always rush to make new weapons. Overall, the main conflict of the story "Janitors: Secrets of New Forest Academy" affects the characters.

This book was pretty good. It was better than the first book. I liked it because it had a lot of plot twists that made it interesting. It also added newer stuff to the plot, making it even more detailed. Overall, this book was good and I would suggest this series to anyone who likes an exciting book.

[Jaxon Hill · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book starts as Spencer and his mom try to escape the BEM on their front lawn, for some reason they he has some sort of package and so they are trying to catch him, they escape pick up Dez and Daisy and go to New forest academy where they think it will be safe, but the custodian is actually a Janitor that works for the BEM. Spencer and Daisy have to keep fighting and getting away from slick but eventually he catches them. The school is working with the BEM and all of the students who don’t make it into the school are imprisoned there so Spencer and Daisy get them all into a bus and start to get away. But then they have to go back and save his dad which is in a dumpster so they do and at the end they are looking for Walter Jamison.
The book has one lesson and that is to not give up on someone no matter what. They go back and try to rescue Dez because they accidently leave him at the school, then he betrays them and stays. Then they go back to rescue his dad anyway and Dez asks if he can help again, they forgive him and then he betrays them again leaving them. And at the begging of the book they take him with them even though they don’t want to.
There is only one thing that I don’t like about the book, the fact that Spencer’s dad sent him the package but Spencer didn’t get it so nobody knows what the last clue is. I love how with electric wires the toxites can grow and change. I also like how they have a change of scenery and go to a different place rather than just fighting toxites at their school again.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay, well slight improvement from book one, so that's something. I can see why these books appeal to and hold the attention of many of our 5th/6th graders: they're fairly quick to read, not super deep or complex, unique, and packed full of action. I still found the nefarious plot of the villains pretty flat; it's a bit like a Pinky and the Brain plan--not very well flushed out, evil for evil's sake, and decidedly unfounded (the only "why" we're given is that they are "trying to take over the [nation]!" hence the Pinky and the Brain reference). The main character does show a bit more depth than in Book One, but I feel like Daisy shows even less (in the first book, she's described as gullible, but here she just presents as extremely ditzy and shallow). I felt like Whitesides attempts to mislead the reader for surprise reveals was moderately successful, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. Instead of getting hints of, "hey that guy might be up to no good," I feel like he makes almost every character shady and suspect somehow. Maybe that's just me, though? I also found the push to include Dez extremely tenuous. Overall, it's just not very sophisticated writing; characters do things because they have to do them for the plot to work, instead of because the characters actually feel like they'd act that way. Maybe students don't mind, but I think it's what keeps this from being a really great series. We may think young readers don't care, but I suspect they pick up on lack of foundation better than we assume.

[Macin Kuester · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book starts with Spencer, the main character, going to new forest academy, a school for the over achievers, for a week because the janitors think that is the safest place for him but it turns out to be a trap. The janitor there works for the B.E.M, the bad guys. Spencer finds out that his dad is trapped in a dumpster sealed by special tape. Spencer and Daisy decide to try to rescue him, but he is on the bottom level of a parking garage and there are 3 levels. Each level has an extension toxite, which are creatures that are grown much bigger than their normal size. Spencer and his friends finally make it to his dad and free him. They defeat the bad guy who was down there waiting for them. You will have to read it to figure out what happens next.

There were a lot of problems in the book. One of them was Spencer wanted to save his dad, but there were traps all over the place. They solved this problem with working together and teamwork. Also Spencer was going to get in trouble with the BEM. The way they solved this was they sent him to new forest academy.

One thing I like about this book is they get to meet extension toxites. I also liked that they got to discover new glopified equipment, which are janitor supplies with magical properties. I disliked that Slick almost killed Spencer with an extension toxite. I also disliked that Spencer got in trouble a lot just because he was fighting toxites and other people can’t see them.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sequel moves a lot faster than the second book. There is much more action and we get answers to some pretty big questions, which is really important to be invested in the larger story that moves beyond this book. So that was good. However, there is definitely a sense that the action overwhelms the characters and their development. There are some hugely missed opportunities with Spencer and Dez in particular, and Daisy all but disappears into the background at times. There's a moment early in the book where Spencer does something that makes you feel things are being set up for a learning experience and a growth in his character later in the book, but nothing ever comes of it (at least in this book). When Spencer gets his family out of the house with the plunger, there are repeated references to how he acted without thinking or listening to anyone else and ignored the danger. Later, he essentially makes the same decision again, and continuously through the book makes decisions and takes action without listening to anyone else. Not having him visibly grow in this very obvious aspect of his life makes him less likable as a main character. Overall, though, this raised the stakes and helped move the story along and was interesting enough, that I'll probably read the next book.

[Juni Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book Janitors: Secrets of New Forest Academy follows a boy named Spencer Zumbro and his friend Daisy Gates. The kids discovered a magical world within their own world of powerful janitors who have special cleaning tools. Because they knew of the underground janitor society and other secrets, Spencer and Daisy had to attend a suspicious private school in Colorado which ended up being more dangerous than they thought. I gave this book five stars because it was a splendid second book to follow the first of the series. There were many plot twists and well-rounded characters such as Dez, the bully to frenemy. There was also a main antagonist named Slick that threatened and made the two main characters constantly paranoid which made the story interesting. He manipulated kids to turn their backs on his malicious behavior and regularly attempted–and succeeded–to kidnap the main characters. However, there was one scene where Spencer lifted his mother’s van with a magical plunger that I had a hard time following. The process of how he achieved the task was a bit convoluted, but with some effort, it made sense. I would recommend this book to people who are looking for a light read and like a good fantasy book with high stakes.

[Jordan Encee · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, you know how I don't see how this could be compared to Fablehaven in my last review? Well, now I can see it, not by its quality (it's not bad) but by its concepts.
1. Can't see the creatures unless exposed to magical thingys to see them, and then they become a real threat.
2. The Bureau of Educational Maintenance (BEM) is its version of the Evening Star.
3. Anyone could be the enemy, pretending to be working for the good guys.

But other than that, how's the book? Good, I say. I think there is a charm to it that I like. Characters are fun and energetic. The plot was simple and had a lot of twists at the same time. Good overall, I'm looking forward to the future.

[Emilia · Rating 4 out of 5]

☆3.5☆
You know, this was not a terrible book. I admit, I was not expecting much from a book in a series called Janitors, but it was a fun fast, paced read and I can imagine certain groups of 5th and 6th graders really enjoying this. I particularly liked the main character (he's got a thing about germs) and his best friend (she's vey literal, which makes foot a lot of awkward moments). Personally, however, I got really tired of reading about plungers and janitor carts saving the world.

[James Biser · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is another good tale in the Janitors series. Spencer and his comrades again face off against the Bureau of Educational Maintenance (BEM). The only place they believe they can find safety is within a school called the New Forest Academy. As they begin to clearly examine the faculty of the new center of education, it becomes clear that they are further from safety here than anywhere, and the BEM is making plans to eliminate educational safe havens anywhere.

[Marsha · Rating 4 out of 5]

The excitement builds in this second book in the series and now I am anxious to get through all the series to see how it all resolves. I can see why kids love these books, they are very clever, exciting, and entertaining. This one has more of a cliff hanger at the end than the first one as the overall story comes together. I was actually surprised when the book ended as it felt like the end of a chapter rather than the end of a book. Highly recommend for youth ages 8/9 and above.

[Gable Roth · Rating 2 out of 5]

The writing and story telling is not my favorite. As I read I think to myself many ways that it could be better. Not saying that I could write anything better, just saying that there are so many things that are either inconsistent or too fantastical and it breaks the illusion of the story so I can't fully immerse myself in the world.

The story itself is interesting enough that I am OK finishing the series. I just wish that the overall story was told a little better.

[Warren Ayen · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fun ride

While the motivations and behavior of the kids is on par with, well, kids, the writing isn’t. It’s action-packed and a fun ride from start to finish with a fairly inventive world of magic within our own. Well worth it for both kids and adults who enjoy whimsical and fun fantasy YA books.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Again, we listened as a family. My kids have really enjoyed it and it’s been a fun activity to listen as a family in the evenings. The book ended on a pretty good cliffhanger and I expect my kids to beg to listen to book three tomorrow.

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

11 year old’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

9 year old’s rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

[M L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audible Audiobook

Jack's choice to listen to as we drove to Disneyland.

So many more layers to this story that appears on the surface. The bad guys are focused on destroying public education by making students dumb and unengaged. They then set up an academy with hand-selected students who were malleable and who could be controlled to create the world where they would be in control.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid second book in the series. The plot thickens as the enemy's plans start to come into view. These new threats will test the skills of the kids and the Janitors. Be prepared for a cliffhanger ending.

I listened to the audio version of this book. It's great, even if you miss out on delightful illustrations by Brandon Dorman.

[Wysteria Campion · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, here's the thing. This book has a very interesting premise, but the story goes barely anywhere the entire book then picks up at the end, and it feels like there are so many in this series and I don't have time to read this.

[Katelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book travels to new forest academy and takes you on an amazing adventure with Spencer and Daisy. I loved how janitors ties the entire thing together, including many secrets I threw to the back of my mind. I’m ready to read the next book as soon as possible!

[HermioneGranger · Rating 4 out of 5]

In order to stay safe, Spencer and Daisy go off to a secluded academy for a week...
And then an unexpected hitchhiker screws up everything.

(This one is the darkest of the books, but the rest do not disappoint!)