The Lunch Club: It Came from the Basement

Written and illustrated by Dom Pelletier

English text by Dina Ginzburg

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-8271-3

136 pp.

Ages 7-10

October 2020 

 

Tia's nervousness at attending a new school, Pleasant Valley Elementary, is not assuaged when she meets a red-haired boy in braces who makes her the butt of his jokes in multiple classes. But when the opportunity comes to work together, it's nice to have a cheeky friend to help you save the world from an alien.

From The Lunch Club: It Came from the Basement by Dom Pelletier

Unbeknownst to Tia and Leo, the night before she arrives at the school, a turnip-shaped space craft lands near the school and a green-tentacled creature begins controlling the custodian, Mr. Bob. His strange behaviour is first noted by the kids at lunch the next day when they both end up in a room labelled "Philately Club" supervised by a nerdy man who sleeps most of the time. Tia, looking for some peace, and Leo, writing lines for poor behaviour, observe Mr. Bob collecting food scraps and saving them in his mop bucket while muttering gobbledygook.

 

From The Lunch Club: It Came from the Basement by Dom Pelletier

 

Following the custodian, the two discover a moustached and tentacled green creature consuming all the food scraps. When they seek the help of the Philately Club's supervisor, they learn that Mr. Peabody is the official guardian of the club that was created hundreds of years ago to fight the forces of darkness. Oh, and collect stamps.

From The Lunch Club: It Came from the Basement by Dom Pelletier

Sleuthing around the school, Tia and Leo discover the creature, now intelligible after devouring an English dictionary, intends to conquer the school, and take over the world as Emperor Zaralgax the First. When they witness it plopping out a number of colourful eggs, the two know they need to act fast. Armed with a weird assortment of gadgets, from a slingshot and flashlight, magnifier and shield, Tia and Leo, with a little help from Mr. Peabody, take on the green menace and thwart its evil plan.

From The Lunch Club: It Came from the Basement by Dom Pelletier

Kids will laugh themselves silly over The Lunch Club: It Came from the Basement. They'll know a sweet Tia with her unicorn shirt and funny guy Leo who'll do anything for a laugh. (Eating glue sticks is what got him assigned to writing lines.) And they'll know about fitting in and being brave and scared and why peanut butter isn't allowed in schools. Between the laughs in Dom Pelletier's words ("We're in a bad dream!" "Well, we are in school..."), including a commercial break for organic turnips, and the hilarious cartoons, this middle-grade graphic novel will have them snorting and whooping with every page. 

I'm delighted that Dom Pelletier's French-language graphic novels Les Timbrés will now be available to English readers. As of this month, there will be three French-language titles in the series (see below) and but I think young English readers thirsty for a good laugh and irreverent humour, which is what they'll get with this series, will eagerly await the next titles. (The Curse of the Scarewolf is hinted to be coming soon.)