Tag Archive for: Book Review

When I was in second or third grade when a copy of Cream of Creature From the School Cafeteria by Mike Thaler made its way onto my bookshelf. I am not sure where it came from. It wasn’t from a Scholastic book order and I didn’t get it from a bookstore. Nonetheless, it was one of the coolest books I read as a kid…mostly because of the ridiculous gross factor.

It is the story of lunchtime at an elementary school. The students are headed to the cafeteria and smell something bad in the air. They also hear strange noises coming from the cafeteria. As the students lined up to get their food, they discovered Lunch was alive and coming for them. Lunch bubbled out of the pot and proceeded to chase them through the school, eating the lunch lady and principal in the process. The more Lunch ate, the more it grew. The police and fire departments tried to stop it, but their attempts failed. The army used flame throwers to try to stop Lunch but just ended up getting eaten by a now hot Lunch. When the air force was called in, Lunch ate the bombs they dropped along with the school’s playground equipment. Everything just made it angry and more hungry.

Mickey, a student at the school, was the last hope. Mickey would eat anything. Mickey agreed to help. He walked onto the playground, pulled out his spoons, and waited for Lunch to come to him.

If you want to know how this book ends, you will have to read a copy of it. I don’t like to spoil such a dramatic ending.

The thing I love about this book is how ridiculous the story is. The idea that the cafeteria lunch could eat the school is impossible, but it’s also fantastically fanciful and enthralling for an 8-year old. Even when I read it as an adult, it tickles the kid in me. That a burbling, gurgling, green lunch could consume a school and those in it is hilarious. That the only hope to defeating it could be a quiet, little kid is the cherry on top.

I always like it when the quiet kid saves the day.