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Baby Aliens #4

Attack of the Demon Dinner Ladies

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Izzy and her friends have never liked school dinners. And they’re getting worse. The dinner ladies are acting strangely (making up random rules, wearing hats, and cooking new food, even more horrible than usual). Lollipop man mentions there is a new head dinner lady and calls her “a bit of a legend” (in a bad way) and that she used to be here a long, long time ago and has returned. Izzy and friends wonder if she is the reason for the strange behaviour. They wonder why she has returned. They find out she was fired. They speculate as to why and decide she’s a demon who’s returned to do bad things. Because why wouldn’t she be?

224 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 4, 2016

44 people are currently reading
201 people want to read

About the author

Pamela Butchart

81 books116 followers
As a child, Pamela was lucky enough to grow up in a house full of pets and go to a primary school where lots of spooky and weird things happened (well, in her imagination at least). As a student, Pamela’s student jobs included: fishwife, teaching basketball in America, phlebotomist and Artist Liaison for a (really bad) Abba tribute band. Now, when she’s not writing or going out and about meeting readers, Pamela teaches philosophy to teenagers.

Her top selling stories include The Spy Who Loved School Dinners which won the Blue Peter Best Story Award and My Head Teacher is a Vampire Rat which won The Children’s Book Award. Two of her books, Petunia Peri and There’s a Werewolf in My Tent, were shortlisted for the Lollies – the Laugh Out Loud Awards.

Pamela lives in Dundee with her baby boy and their two awesome cats, Bear & Carlos. If she wasn’t working as a writer and a teacher she’d like to open a luxury hotel for stray cats.

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5 stars
403 (53%)
4 stars
200 (26%)
3 stars
95 (12%)
2 stars
37 (4%)
1 star
13 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews
Profile Image for Elspeth Hall.
Author 20 books14 followers
August 22, 2018
If your little one is into detectives and spies but isn't at the reading level of "The Famous Five" then this is perfect for them. Primary school children having adventures with all the fun and excitement of James Bond written at an easy reader level.
Profile Image for Mehsi.
15.1k reviews455 followers
May 4, 2018
Sadly, not as good or fun as the previous one. It was quite a struggle to get through this one.

Where I quite loved the previous one and the antics the kids went through and also their imagination, in this one I actually disliked the kids and how hurtful they were against Amy, the dinner ladies. How far their imagination went to even think that these women were evil, that they were demons. That they would do ANYTHING, even accuse the dinner lady of poisoning (instead of thinking it is an allergy to avocado or whatever else was in that mix that Jodi's mum put on her face). Really, imagination is nice, but if you see conspiracies everywhere, maybe you should just see a doctor. They really hurt a few people here, and I was just so sad for Amy and her mum/the dinner ladies. They did their best to make something new and special. And really, is it so weird for people to wear those hats or goggles. Do you want hairs and such in your water or food? Um, eww, no.

Sure, maybe the school could have done a bit more education or a lesson on the new food stuff and what they meant so that everyone knew what to expect. Then again, the kids could have easily asked what was in the water or what all the fancy food was meant to be. They have mouths, they can ask. :|

Like with the other book I knew quite fast what was going on, that this was just a case of, as we say in Dutch: "Wat de boer niet kent dat vreet hij niet". And that maybe these kids should learn to see the difference between reality and FANTASY.

Also, I suddenly understand why Maisie is the way she is. With a mom like that? Poor Maisie, I hope that she doesn't end up to be like her mom.

So yeah, interesting idea, but I was just mostly frustrated with the crap these kids did and how far they went. Quite disappointed as I bought this book and I now wish I hadn't. *sighs and waves bye bye to the 9 euros the book has cost her*

I may be buying the other books that are still left in this series, as I loved the two other books that I read. But for now it has to wait. I would rather not spend another 9 euros on another book and be disappointed again.

2 stars in the end for the title, the cover, the illustrations, and the idea of demon dinner ladies. 

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
Profile Image for Archinator5798.
4 reviews
October 10, 2020
Read in 2 weeks. This book was very slow for me, I prefer if it was a bigger book. But highly recommend. 😉
Profile Image for Annabelle Warman.
10 reviews
March 2, 2024
Great detective book for children! I really want to get the whole series of these now!
Profile Image for Mama ir vaikas skaito.
100 reviews18 followers
January 26, 2020
Renkantis knygas, sūnus dalį jų apsisprendžia skaityti pats, kitas jam pasiūlau aš (dažniausiai iš klasikos). Pamelos Butchart knygos yra iš tų, kurias mano aštuonmetis iš gausybės knygų išsirenka pats. "Mokyklos byla: virėjos demonės puola" - jau antrasis jo šios autorės kūrinių pasirinkimas. Ši knyga- viena iš mokyklos detektyvų serijos istorijų, kurias parašė škotų rašytoja, kuri pati dirba mokytoja ir puikiai išmano, koks gyvenimas verda už šio pastato sienų. Tai knygų serija vaikams apie linksmus, išradingus, šmaikščius ketvirtaklasius: Izą ir jos draugus Zaką, Džudę ir Meisę, kurie nuolat įsivelia į įvairias istorijas.

Mano sūnus šią istoriją perskaitė per dieną (galima sakyti per vakarą), nes kai pradėjo, niekaip negalėjo sustoti, net po mano raginimų pailsėti ir pailsinti akis. Manau, kad vienas iš jos sėkmės faktorių tas, kad ji pasakoja apie nuotykius, vykstačius mokykloje ir, pasirodo, ten verda toks įdomus gyvenimas! Šioje knygoje vaikams kilo įtarimų, kad mokyklos virėjos - tikros demonės ir jos ruošiasi pulti, ir tam atsiranda vis daugiau įrodymų, todėl vaikai bando išsiaiškinti ir atskleisti baisią tiesą. Neabejotinai, knygos pabaigoje paaiškėja, kad tiesa ne tokia jau ir bauginanti, o daugystė būtinai laimi.

Pati knyga yra kietu viršeliu, skirta 7-10 metų vaikams ir nors turi nemažai puslapių (270), bet labai lengvai skaitoma, nes teksto nedaug, jis didelis, labai daug linksmų nespalvotų iliustracijų, todėl ir neįgudusiam skaitytojui jau įkandama. Mano sūnui ji patiko, jis jau buvo skaitęs kitą tos serijos knygą "Mūsų direktorius- vampyras". Knygos linksmos, su slypinčia paslaptimi ir intriga, todėl gana lengvai prikausto mažąjį skaitytoją. Dar yra trečia lietuviška šios serijos knyga "Šnipė, kuriai patiko mokyklos pietūs", kurią tikisi greitu metu perskaityti.
Profile Image for Eve L-A Witherington.
Author 69 books49 followers
September 19, 2019
Izzy and her friends Amy, Maisie, Jodi and Zach notice strange goings on all related to their dinnerladies and start to investigate what is happening after making the links which cause a series of bizarre incidents to occur.



As my mum is a dinner lady, we both read this book and both found it hilarious. The kids really do blow things out of proportion but also provide great joy and amusement by doing so! As for the school dinners, there's always room for improvement and change we think but especially at this fictional school more options are needed as they raise the point of! A joy to read and will make kid's enjoy reading a book set in a school too I'm sure!
Profile Image for Katie Cat Books.
1,167 reviews
May 19, 2018
Goofy. Accessible. Friends and fun.

Story: Izzy and her friends investigate the infamous dinner lady and get mixed up in crazy antics.

Language: Chapters are short. Font is large and text is interspersed with bigger fonts, cartoon drawings and borders. Reminiscent of Diary of a Wimpy Kid but more text and more friendship focused.

Characters: This is part of a series of books featuring The same group of core characters but each book can be read individually. Each character has their own personality expressed in both actions, dialogue and in the drawings.

Simple light hearted fun.
Profile Image for Ann.
1,047 reviews2 followers
February 20, 2020
I'm rating it as a mum purely on one chapter somewhere in the first third of the book. Commas are used randomly, if at all. 50% of the sentences start with "and", mostly to avoid having long sentences.
I can't see it being written for little ones (under 8) as it is a bit scary with those demon eyes and for older ones (who understand and can relate to things like "filling an application for a school transfer") grammar and punctuation is not good enough.
3 reviews
May 27, 2020
I read this book a few years ago, and remember absolutely loving it! After my first time reading it, I read it again twice over! I just could not get my head around how imaginative these children are
! I found this a really fun book and recommend it to any younger children around the age of year 3 year 4ish.
Profile Image for Bay T-M.
7 reviews
August 16, 2020
This is terrible for so many reasons.
1: The children make too many assumptions and there isn’t any actual drama.
2: The author uses hardly any full stops or commas.
3: It treats children as idiots by making the characters talk in a way that is not very intelligent.
4: The illustrations are really basic.
5: The characters are not at all likeable.

Never read this.
Profile Image for Margaret McCulloch-Keeble.
900 reviews11 followers
January 22, 2017
Oh dear. Of all the kids' books I've read recently for work this has been my least favourite. I know it's written as a 1st person kiddy, but there's too many 'and then's. I believe however the kids at school will love it, the other books in the series are going down a storm.
2 reviews
August 16, 2020
This book is just a tonne of poop. It's mostly just three kids making things up about dinner ladies who turn out to not be doing anything. The characters are NOT loveable (if anything they're hateable) and it has rubbish grammar. DO NOT READ (Unless you want to for whatever stupid reason).
Profile Image for Ahmed.
3 reviews
September 11, 2016
It was my favorite book because, the lollipop man instead of being mean, he was nice to Masie, Zach, Izzy and Jodi.
Profile Image for Ona Cruz.
121 reviews2 followers
June 13, 2023
És molt divertit i si t'agrada cuinar i tens imaginació és el teu llibre.📘
Profile Image for Thalia S. A..
Author 0 books3 followers
October 18, 2021
"It’s a vegetable facemask. Why? Does it smell funny?" -Attack Of The Demon Dinner Ladies.

Every single book from this series that I have read so far is HILARIOUS.

Izzy and her friends do NOT like school dinners (although I do). The school dinners at their school are gruesome, and ever since the new head dinner lady arrived, the meals are more gruesome than ever. Why are so many seagulls flying around school? What's with the eyeballs in the water jug? And how is it possible to explain the head dinner lady's glowing eyes...?

If you or anyone else like mystery stories, but also like funny ones, this is the book for you. It made me laugh, mostly because it has a lot of jokes.

It's very easy to read. The story is easy to understand and catch up with. I think it would also make a good read-aloud.

It's an amazing book! You have to read it. :D
Profile Image for D E X.
119 reviews
March 3, 2024
Books by Pamela Butchart aren't just 'good' they're not just 'amazing' but they're... Wait for it....INCREDIBLE! They are laugh out loud guaranteed, amazing illustrations by Thomas Flintham, a great story and endings which you won't see coming.

So give a round of aplause for...
PAMELA BUTCHART AND THOMAS FLINTHAM!!! 👏👏👏👏👏👍👍👍😁
6 reviews3 followers
April 14, 2024
Mano pirmokas pagaliau skaito savo noru! Tad ir aš perskaičiau iš smalsumo, kas knygoje yra tokio, kad jį sudomimo :D Tikrai šmaikšti knyga, tekstas skaitosi greitai, lengvai suprantamas, o istorija netikėta ir juokinga. Veikėjai ryškūs ir lengvai įsimenami. Rekomenduoju pasiūlyti vaikams, kurie susiduria su nenoru skaityti.
2 reviews
December 8, 2018
The demon dinner ladies review! 👍🏻

I like how the book is funny and exciting.
It was okay.
I liked at the end of the book it was just a misunderstanding.
You guys should read this book it’s good.
Profile Image for Rachael.
282 reviews7 followers
May 31, 2023
Really enjoyed this read of a group of school children who find that their school is under attack by demon dinner ladies who make seagull pie!! This is a mystery that must be unravelled so funny especially second half of book. Loved the illustrations too. 
1,305 reviews4 followers
June 20, 2023
Another really fun instalment in the Baby Aliens series. My eight year old kept begging to continue at the end of each chapter. It’s beautifully plotted showing how easy it is for children to completely misunderstand simple things sometimes.
Profile Image for Electro Space Cat.
100 reviews
July 30, 2018
Disappointing. There was a part that I was looking forward to and I was sure it would have been in the book - but wasn't. If I was the author I would have written it differently.
69 reviews1 follower
December 27, 2018
Really funny! Can't what to read the next one
Profile Image for Kirsty.
64 reviews
February 20, 2020
I actually quite enjoyed this kids book. Read it as I was planning on dressing up as a demon dinner lady for world book day
4 reviews
June 29, 2020
I thought this book was amazing and I really really loved it. I think it was one of my favourite books. And I think other peaple should try it.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 61 reviews

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