The First Helping (Lunch Lady Books 1 & 2): The Cyborg Substitute and the League of Librarians

by Jarrett J. Krosoczka

*Odyssey Honor Audiobook*

Fans of Captain Underpants won't want to miss the adventures of a lunch lady who serves justice--now available for the first time as a two-book collection!

Serving justice . . . and lunch!

Hector, Terrence, and Dee have always wondered about their school lunch lady. What does she do when she isn't dishing out the daily special? Where does she live? Does she have a lot of cats at home? Little do they know, Lunch Lady doesn't just serve sloppy joes--she serves justice! Whatever danger lies ahead, it's no match for LUNCH LADY in these two exciting adventures packed into one audiobook! Get ready for the return of this exciting series, by the author of Hey, Kiddo.

This audiobook adaptation of the graphic novels Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute and Lunch Lady and the League of Librarians includes an author's note.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Audiobook, Childrens, Juvenile, Humor, Fiction, Middle Grade

208 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2010

About the author

Jarrett J. Krosoczka, known since boyhood as "JJK," is the New York Times bestselling author/illustrator behind more than forty books for young readers, including his wildly popular Lunch Lady graphic novels, select volumes of the Star Wars™: Jedi Academy series, and Hey, Kiddo, which was a National Book Award Finalist. Krosoczka creates books with humor, heart, and deep respect for his young readers—qualities that have made his titles perennial favorites on the bookshelves of homes, libraries, and bookstores over the past twenty years.

In addition to his work in print, Krosoczka produced, directed, and performed in the full-cast audiobook adaptations of his graphic novels. The Hey, Kidoo audiobook garnered both Audie and Odyssey Awards for excellence in audiobook production. The Lunch Lady audiobook cast is led by Kate Flannery (The Office) and is rounded out by famed audiobook narrators and real kid actors! Krosoczka has been a guest on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, has been profiled in The New York Times, was featured on Good Morning America, and has delivered three TED Talks, which have accrued millions of views online. Krosoczka has garnered millions of more views online via the tutorials he has produced for YouTube and TikTok. As well as working on his books' film and television adaptions, Krosoczka has also written for The Snoopy Show (Apple TV+) and served as a consultant for Creative Galaxy (Prime Video), and appeared in live segments for the show.

Realizing that his books can inspire young readers beyond the page, Krosoczka founded School Lunch Hero Day, a national campaign celebrating school lunch staff. A consummate advocate for arts education, Krosoczka also established the Joseph and Shirley Krosoczka Memorial Youth Scholarships, which fund art classes for underprivileged children in his hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts.

Krosoczka lives in western Massachusetts with his spouse, their three children, pugs Ralph and Frank, and a French bulldog named Bella Carmella.

Reviews

[Janssen]

This was a fun family listen. Full review here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CoOE1XjtT1D/

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious

[Megan Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this to my youngest son and he enthusiastically gave it 5 stars!

These are fun—I’m happy reading these out loud

[Krista Mc]

Lunch Lady--the overlooked and unsung hero we never knew about!

[Brindi Michele · Rating 4 out of 5]

these audio books are such a fun experience, features a full cast. even though these are originally in graphic novel format, the listener isn't missing out on the illustrations because the production makes up for it.

[Amy (amy_alwaysreading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Lunch Lady: 2 for 1 special by @studiojjk
🍴The First Helping
🍴The Second Helping
Release date: February 22, 2022
 
The Lunch Lady audiobooks knock it out of the park!  From the credits at the very beginning, my son and I were rolling with laughter… Yes, you heard me right...  even the credits were imbued with hysteria and fun. 
 
Specially designed for the complete listening experience with sound effects and narrated by a full cast, which includes @therealkateflannery (Merideth from the Office!), these books were a complete experience.

Not all super heroes wear capes! By school day, the Lunch Lady and her sidekick, Betty, keep the students fed. But when danger looms, they quickly jump into action to fight for justice.

Creative and full of belly laughs, this series delivers on the FUN. I enjoyed the adventures of Lunch Lady right alongside my son.  Perfection! 
 
The First Helping won the 2023 Odyssey Award from @americanlibraryassociation.   
 

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This First Helping is truly that. You'll want to return for seconds and thirds! I first stumbled on Jarrett Krosoczka's Lunch Lady series several years ago and recently decided to give it a re-read and I still love it. I mean, who wouldn't have loved for their elementary school lunch ladies to be secret crime fighters?! These first two books in the series will help you decide. Lunch Lady, her trusty sidekick Betty, and the Breakfast Brunch trio of Hector, Dee, and Terrance that discover the world's best kept secret work together to thwart a cyborg teacher and a league of feisty librarians. If your kids love an action-low key mystery in the form of a graphic novel, then this is a great choice!

[Stacey Adams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun books with the lunch ladies being discovered by the kids at school. They find out they're like super heroes, almost. They fight crime. Betty makes cool gadgets they use against wrong-doers. Mr. O'Connell goes missing and they have to get him back....and the kids end up helping. They find out the substitute is a cyborg, a robot....and their are more robots to fight to save the teacher. That's the first story. In the second one, librarians are acting strange about the upcoming read-a-thon and lunch lady and the kids want to find out why. A new video game is about to drop and the kids are psyched. Things aren't what they seem and the lunch lady has to fight storybook characters come to life. Cool gadgets, interesting deviants make a fun story.

[Jaime]

I love the concept of this and the audiobook is a blast to listen to. Not so keen on public librarians being pitted as villains because they hate video games. That's just not realistic to how libraries work today. (Yes, I know the book was originally published in 2009 but still, books really shouldn't be against libraries or library workers for any reason.)

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

The narration and sound effects led to 4 stars. Clearly a children’s book and not geared towards my age, but entertaining nonetheless. A good audiobook for kids and I’m sure a great graphic novel as well.

Evil librarians. A bit tired of that plot. Especially with the current political climate. But still funny.

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

When my oldest learned about the youngest’s upcoming author visit, I was scolded for not reading any lunch lady books… so here we are and they were right. These are super fun books, with their hi-jinx and lunch lady fighting gadgets. The illustrations are awesome and love the janitor’s Worcester accent too.

[Kate McCartney · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really don’t get making graphic novels into audiobooks. It just doesn’t seem necessary. Again, it feels like there had to be better audiobooks out there to make the list.

2023 YMA Odyssey Award honor book

[Molly Sanders · Rating 3 out of 5]

i needed a book with a book on the cover to fulfill a prompt ok? and i didn’t have the energy to read or listen to anything long but if you got kids i really recommend this as a beginner audiobook! kate flannery was the perfect choice as the voice actor for the lunch lady, i love her!

[Eryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely more my kids style than mine but it was good car ride entertainment.

[Diana Eberhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okay. Typical graphic novel about seemingly normal people who have secret identities.

[Ranette · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this comic book because it had many references to other books and was not original

[Jhoanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Librarians as villains? 🤣 Can’t wait to book talk this!

[Casey Sitze · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book for kids!

[Kayla]

Such a fun listen! I listened while making dinner and it's just a hoot hearing Meredith from The Office reading the part of the lunch lady.

[Cathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was all over the place. Don’t see how children could learn much from this. Mainly chaos. CathyR

[Laura Talley · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sweet and fun story! All of the kids at my grandsons’ school received a free copy, so of course I had to read it too

[Annabelle Kocher · Rating 3 out of 5]

… it was… okayyyy…I like how disguised her stuff is but I don’t like how they were against the books though.

[Arman Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I liked it, the art design reminds me of Pepper Ann.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would imagine many elementary school students wonder about the private lives of their teachers, principals, and school staff. And certainly the idea of a crimefighting lunch lady has much to recommend it. In this full-color graphic novel merging of two Lunch Lady stories--the very first two in the popular series--previously published in 2009, readers watch Lunch Lady, that most-unlikely of heroes, and her inventive sidekick Betty as they make sure that justice is served. In the first story, the two of them deal with the disappearance of a popular teacher, Mr. O'Connell, and the suspicious actions of his substitute. In the second, Lunch Lady rescues video games from the clutches of librarians who have plenty of literary arsenals at their fingertips. Both stories contain plenty of humor, panels of different sizes, including some double-page spreads filled with colorful action, and clever wordplay; for instance, when Lunch Lady suggests to a villain that she serve up "whaamburgers and cries" (p. 65). And who can forget those useful gadgets dreamed up by Betty: a lunch tray laptop and rubber glove suction cups, among others. Back matter includes a note from the author in which he explains the inspiration for and creation of the Lunch Lady series. This book will delight fans of the series while also gaining new fans as the Breakfast Bunch, Hector, Dee, and Terrence, face the usual threats from bullies as well as dealing with school's daily challenges. Reading these two books made me smile in appreciation of Krosoczka's creativity.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a super short, quirky, and entertaining graphic novel. It actually had the first two lunch lady books in it and I read it by myself and then with my 10-year-old. She loved it and wants to read more of the adventures of the Lunch Lady. I thought it was very entertaining with a bit of an educational aspect to it and great artwork and very creative with the Lunch Lady and her superhero life and a great bunch of gadgets. We're looking forward to reading more about the adventures of the Lunch Lady and adding to our graphic novel collection when this comes out in February. Keep this on your radar especially if you have kids who also love graphic novels and reading. Thanks so much to Random House Children's Publishing/Knopf Books for Young Readers and NetGalley for letting me read and review this super fun graphic novel. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is just pure FUN. The idea of wondering what kind of "secret lives" the teachers and other school staff lead when they're not at school is one with which kids will be able to relate (especially since most kids seem to think we live at school!). The colorful pictures perfectly complement the text, and the premises of each of these first two installments in the series are simple, but brilliant at the same time. (I, being an elementary school librarian, especially appreciated book 2.) I just kept marveling at how smart the plot lines were, and I think kids will appreciate the idea of the lunch ladies with the double lives, as well as the teachers with the diabolical plans. This is not a series I've purchased for my library before, but now it looks like I'll be adding it to my shelves!

[Fiona · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is marketed for fans of Captain Underpants but its nowhere near as good; its absurd but not actually funny. Definitely will not be bothering with the rest of this series.

[Lisa McDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always, Jarrett J. Krosoczka brings the humor in his Lunch Lady series. In a nutshell, students, who call themselves the breakfast bunch, have always wondered what the person who serves them their food does when she is not at work. Is she a cat lady, with 100 cats, or just a normal mom taking care of a family, or is she a spy? In actuality, the Lunch Lady is a superhero of sorts! She, and another lunch lady, fight evil using imaginative gadgets like the Spatu-copter, Spork Phones, and Milk Cams. I highly recommend this book to 2nd through 6th graders.

Thanks to NetGalley for the eARC of this book.

[Read Ribbet · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reissue of Krosoczka first two Lunch Lady graphic novels is in a new format. The two books are combined in one hard back edition that is slightly larger than the original graphic novels and now with colorization. The first story introduces to the crime fighting lunch ladies as they take on a suspicious new substitute teacher. In the second story a league of librarians hatch a plan to remove all video games as the lunch ladies work with the students to foil their plans. The stories have a lot of action and introduce a number of lunch lady crime fighting gadgets. A great book to put into the hands of most readers including those that may be a bit more reluctant.

[Heather McC · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my primary resources for Reader's Advisory (recommending books for patrons) comes from online webinars. After viewing an audio book webinar a few months back, I decided to try an audio version of a J Graphic novel series - 'Lunch Lady'. The first two 'Lunch Lady' books are read by a full cast, and very expressive narrator and tell tales of hijinks, justice, and yummy cafeteria food. Funny and fast paced, you'll blow through this audio book in around 45 minutes or so - but you may come back for second or third helping (in this case a listen). Can't wait to try the rest of the books out in print form!