Seven Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the Cafeteria

Product Description Addressing kids' anxiety about unfamiliar situations, this irreverent book lists and explains the rules a kid must follow to survive the perilous world of the school cafeteria. Warnings about the pitfalls lurking in the lunchroom have Kyle imagining and fearing the worst, as the server, the lunch ladies, the cashier, and the menacing big kids become terrifying giant insects in his eyes. Kyle inadvertently breaks every rule but winds up enjoying his lunch—and overcoming his fears. From School Library Journal Gr 1–4—The award-winning team behind Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break if You Want To Survive the School Bus pen another cautionary tale. The same young protagonist who survived the school bus is minding his own business when his bossy friend Ginny gives him strict guidelines on traversing the dreaded cafeteria. The rules are fairly straightforward and hold such time tested tenets as "Don't hold up the line" and "Never aggravate the lunch lady." Since he is reading a book on insects while she lectures him, all of the rules Ginny recite morph into a sort of insect-themed horror story. For instance, sixth graders are as "scary as a swarm of yellow jackets" and the school bully is portrayed as a giant meat-eating water bug. Of course, the boy does everything wrong but still manages to make it through the lunch hour in one piece. He concludes that the best advice is not to listen to Ginny ever again. Filled with engaging and sweeping illustrations done in acrylics, the pictures are engrossing and bring life to an otherwise verbose and confusing tale. The bug rift is intriguing but unfortunately muddles this lengthy and rambling story. VERDICT An optional purchase for those who have a strong fan base for the first book.—Amy Nolan, St. Joseph Public Library, MI Review "Austin's acrylic, colored pencil, and digital illustrations both wonderfully portray Kyle's every emotion and hysterically show his imagined metaphors . . .Some solid advice about both the cafeteria and life is embedded in this tongue-in-cheek tale." —Kirkus "The illustrations are particularly effective, artfully transforming various characters into insects in such a way that even the grossest (meat-eating water bugs!) become appealing. Viewers learn along with Kyle that anxiety-inducing situations aren’t always what they seem." — Booklist About the Author John Grandits is a book and magazine designer and the author of Technically, It's Not My Fault and Blue Lipstick, award-winning books of concrete poetry, and the picture books T en Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the School Bus, which received the Texas Bluebonnet Award, and Seven Rules You Absolutely Must Follow If You Want to Survive the Cafeteria. He and his wife, Joanne, live in Red Bank, New Jersey. Visit him online at johngrandits.com. Michael Allen Austin is the award-winning illustrator of several children's books, including Ten Rules You Absolutely Must Not Break If You Want to Survive the School Bus. Publishers Weekly has exclaimed that his illustrations are "wild and wily," and Booklist has called his art "unusual and exuberant." He lives in Atlanta with his wife, Kim, and their sheepdog, Riley. Visit him online at austinillustration.com and on Instagram @michaelallenaustin.