The Return of the Mummy (The Lunch Club #5)

Written and illustrated by Dom Pelletier

English text by Dina Ginzburg

Scholastic Canada

978-1-4431-9584-3

136 pp.

Ages 7-10

July 2022 

 

In Dom Pelletier's latest volume of his hysterical middle grade graphic novel series, the members of the secret Lunch Club a.k.a. the Philately Club must do some ingenious problem solving with time travel in order to help their teacher, Mr. Peabody, and the original founder of their club, Eglantine, from the nefarious actions of a trio of evil-doers.

From The Return of the Mummy (The Lunch Club #5) by Dom Pelletier

Determined to save himself from being eaten by Fluffy the sea monster in 1803, the villainous McSticky transports himself back in time, along with the huge moustachioed space monster Zaralgax and his mutant rat companion. Sadly Mr. Peabody is accidentally transported too. But time travel is not necessarily straightforward and the group ends up in various times before the bad guys end up where they want to be. 

From The Return of the Mummy (The Lunch Club #5) by Dom Pelletier

Meanwhile Tia and Leo end up bringing back to the school a mummy they release from a sarcophagus while on a field trip to the museum and discover, through some very funny circumstances, that it is actually someone they know who hoped to be discovered in the future. With a lot more laughs and some more time travel from the future and into the past, Tia and Leo are able to save Eglantine before McSticky changes the course of history and gets Fluffy to eat her instead.

From The Return of the Mummy (The Lunch Club #5) by Dom Pelletier

There will be belly laughs, quiet snickers and loud guffaws from kids as they again visit with Leo and Tia and Mr. Peabody in Dom Pelletier's The Lunch Club. Their teachers and parents will understand the irreverence of the stories but kids will just laugh. From Leo who is always getting into mischief like trying to wake up a mummy–"Hey, Mummy, wakey-wakey!"– or sticking fridge magnets to his braces, and Mr. Peabody who can sleep anytime and for long periods, courtesy of a radioactive mosquito, to the odd villains who annoy them, Dom Pelletier has created the weird and wonderful in The Lunch Club. Add a heavy dose of the fantastic, with time-travel, aliens, and wacky contraptions, and The Lunch Club is the place for middle grade readers to visit for a literary snack.

 

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The Lunch Club (originally available in French as Les timbres):

#1 It Came From the Basement

#2 The Curse of the Scarewolf

#3 The Mutant Mouse from Outer Space

#4 Revenge of the Bigfoot

#5 The Return of the Mummy

 

Do check out the website dedicated to The Lunch Club, including activities, videos and learning to draw with Dom Pelletier, at Scholastic Canada here.

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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.)