We began by discussing the opening sequence in Lunch Lady and why the author chose to include it in the book since it is not directly related to the story. We all agreed it was there as a preview of what the Lunch Lady can do and as a teaser to make kids want to read the story. We all thought it was very effective and did make us want to read the book!
We talked about the color scheme of Lunch Lady (black, white, gray and yellow) and why the author chose to use only those colors to tell the story. We also thought about why the author chose to make the Lunch Lady the school's secret crime fighter and who else in a school might make a good secret crime fighter. We thought the school librarian, school secretary and the custodian could all reasonably lead secret double lives.
We thought about new inventions that Betty could create for the Lunch Lady including a pizza boomerang and a gravy/glue sticky trap among other possibilities.
After much discussion, we decided that future Lunch Lady chapter books could take place in the school gym, locker room, science lab, or art class and that another possible storyline could include a rival mutant alien Lunch Lady getting hired at the school.
We thought about what superpowers we would like to have and our favorites included invisibility, the ability to duplicate yourself, the ability to fly, super speed and the ability to create things just by thinking about them.
Following our discussion we looked at the author's website and a lot of the great information and activities that are there. We also worked on a special Lunch Lady activity packet made up of Lunch Lady activities available on the author's website.
It was a great meeting and thanks to all the Book Buddies club members who attended!
