Janitors

September 19, 2011
Students at Welcher Elementary school are falling asleep, getting distracted, and becoming disinterested in schoolwork. It's up to a 12-year-old germaphobe Spencer Zumbro and his friend Daisy "Gullible" Gates to save education. Spencer's father mysteriously disappeared years ago, and now Spencer, his mother, and his siblings are living in his aunt's house; between feeling invisible at home and being bullied at school, Spencer's school year isn't looking up. After washing his face with "burn-your-face-off soap" in the school bathroom, he can see dust-eating, demonlike monsters (which he later learns are "Toxites" that are draining students' brains). Only the gruff janitor, Marv, appears to be able to see the creatures. When the Bureau of Educational Maintenance comes to investigate the school's society of elusive janitors and inducts Spencer to help overthrow them, he isn't sure who to trust. Whitesides's debut novel, first in a series, is action-packed and surprising. Well-drawn school dynamics and Spencer and Daisy's relationship ground the story. Readers, like Spencer, will become convinced of the value of telling the truth, while having a lot of fun along the way. Ages 8â12.

June 1, 2011

With both cleanliness and educational function at stake, a government agency and a rebel faction duke it out in the halls, restrooms and classrooms of an Idaho elementary school.

For centuries the Bureau of Educational Maintenance has trained wizard-janitors to fight the insidious, invisible, dirt-loving, brainwave-sucking "Toxites" (i.e., Rubbish, Grime and Filth) that infest every school and gleefully leach interest, attention and even consciousness from hapless students (now you know). Thanks to applications of a magical slime, hyper-fastidious Spencer and his gullible but steadier sixth-grade classmate Daisy find themselves able to see the revolting little monsters all around them. They become caught between a cohort of BEM agents after supposed mavericks and two fugitive custodians who claim that BEM has, for never-explained reasons, turned traitor to its principles. Who is to be believed? Choosing a side, Spencer and Daisy train with Toxite-killing brooms, mops and vacuum cleaners, and the clandestine battle escalates into a wildly destructive sequence of chases, break-ins and brangles. Whitesides, himself a former school custodian, commits rookie mistakes by suddenly dropping a major character (the obligatory bully) and sets up sequels by leaving too many basic questions unanswered. Still, his debut spins plenty of action, authentic janitorial detail and foul substances around an audience-pleasing premise.

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