The Janitors Series by Tyler Whitesides

The magical, secretive society of JANITORS will sweep the country in the fall of 2011. Have you ever fallen asleep during math class? Are you easily distracted while listening to your English teacher? Do you find yourself completely uninterested in geography? Well, it may not be your fault. The janitors at Welcher Elementary know a secret, and it s draining all the smarts out of the kids. Twelve year- old Spencer Zumbro, with the help of his classmate Daisy Gullible Gates, must fight with and against a secret, janitorial society that wields wizard-like powers. Who can Spencer and Daisy trust and how will they protect their school and possibly the world? Janitors is book 1 in a new children s fantasy series by debut novelist Tyler Whitesides. You ll never look at a mop the same way again.

Now, more than ever, Spencer, Daisy, and even Dez must fight to save schools everywhere. The Bureau of Educational Maintenance (BEM) is after Spencer, and the only place he is safe is within the walls of the New Forest Academy. Or so he thinks. In this fast-paced adventure, the kids must figure out where their loyalties lie and who they can trust as they fight to discover the true secret of the New Forest Academy and what it means to the future of education.

Today I'm reviewing the first couple books in the Janitors series by Tyler Whitesides.  These are middle grade fantasy books, and I just cannot say enough good about them.  

I am a mom of kids that love to read.  Sometimes it's hard to find books that are clean (no swearing, profanity or sex) but that are still good enough to hold my kid's attention.  This is a series that has all the good things I'm looking for.  I only have one middle grade reader left in my house, but I'm super excited to pass these books off to her because I know she is going to enjoy them.  My 18 year old son actually picked these books up and read them through before I had a chance to read them.  They were far below his reading level but he said that as a middle grade reader he would have loved them.  Even as a young adult he kept reading them because he thought the whole premise and idea of the book was original.  He said he hadn't read another book quite like them before.

I loved the pictures and diagrams that went along with this book.  That's one thing I love about middle grade books~ the added bonus of pictures!  I too thought the idea for these books were original and interesting.  Kids will love all the little creatures roaming the schools and they will love the creative use of school janitor supplies to catch them.

Spencer is a great kid.  I love his little OCD tendencies about germs and cleanliness.  It is the little things that endear me to Spencer.  Daisy and Spencer together make a great team.  These books are full of things that all kids will relate to from teachers to family and school dynamics.  There is humor and action.

I am looking forward to reading the third book in this series.  My review for that will be coming in September.  By then I'm hoping to include a report of how my middle grade reader loved them.  :)

You can pick Janitors 1 and Janitors II up at Amazon.  (titles are linked)

My thanks to Shadow Mountain for allowing me to read and review these titles.  Shadow Mountain is an awesome publisher putting out some fantastic and clean books for adults and kids!