“HOW LUNCHBOX JONES SAVED ME FROM ROBOTS, TRAITORS, AND MISSY THE CRUEL,” by Jennifer Brown, Bloomsbury USA Childrens, Aug. 11, 2015, Hardcover, $16.99 (ages 8-12)
Luke Abbott’s goal in life is to be the best video game player of all time. So it doesn’t matter to him that his school owns the record of the losingest school on state record. It doesn’t matter that there are no trophies in the school trophy case. And it certainly doesn’t matter that the school robotics team is looking for members.
That changes when Luke’s father forces him to join the team, but anything’s better than being home around his older brother, Rob, the perpetrator of the “Greatest Betrayal of All Time.” If only the team had even a shot of being mildly successful, but with a cast of characters including Mikayla, the girl who does everything with her toes; Jacob and Jacob, who aren’t twins but might as well be; the sunflower seed-obsessed Stuart; and Missy the Cruel, Luke’s arch nemesis since they were 6-years-old, chances of that happening are slim to none. And then there’s Lunchbox Jones who comes to meetings but barely acknowledges anyone with more than a grunt. There’s no danger of the team adding to the empty trophy case.
“How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me From Robots, Traitors, and Missy the Cruel” is unlike anything I’ve read in a long time, and that’s a good thing. Instead of going through the motions and typical caricatures of middle school, author Jennifer Brown delves deeper into the circumstances that make people who they are. This should come as no surprise to fans of Jennifer — she’s the author of the popular YA novels “Hate List” and “Torn Away.”
Jennifer clearly gets her audience. As with her other novels, in “Lunchbox Jones” Jennifer’s voice becomes that of the characters she creates. There’s an honesty and quirkiness here that’s often missing in the escapist novels so popular in this age range.
