The Cafeteria Lady from the Black Lagoon

Black Lagoon #6

by Mike Thaler, Jared D. Lee (Illustrator)

Wanda Belch is the new cafeteria lady at school. Rumor has it that she drives a garbage truck to school. And her favorite dish is "Souffle of Science Experiments!" Full color.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Humor, School, 1st Grade, Kids

32 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

Mike Thaler, born in Los Angeles, started his professional career drawing cartoons for adults. A children's book editor saw one of his cartoon stories in a national magazine and encouraged Mike to try writing for children. His first attempt met with success, and "The Magic Boy" was published in 1961.

Mike has produced over 220 published books and is known as “America’s Riddle King.” He has also been called “The Court Jester of Children’s Literature.”

Mike Thaler lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Patty. He gladly welcomes all invitations to do church and school programs, and other book events.

Mike travels each year throughout the world helping children and teachers create their own stories, riddles, and books. He writes and teaches with creativity, inspiring his audiences with a love of language.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[Major Douglas]

The cafeteria lady from the black lagoon is a great read. It has always been one of my favorite childhood books along with the Black lagoon series. Its more based off of a younger audience but is still a great book no matter how old you are. in the book Freddy is the main character and they get a new cafeteria lady. This is a really good book that i recommend.

[jacky · Rating 3 out of 5]

My mother-in-law got this from her sister whose kids read it when they were little. This is significant because my mother-in-law IS a cafeteria lady! This was a fun kids book where the narrator's imagination runs wild about how horrible the new food is going to be, but in the end love it. A theme of not judging or fearing what you don't know yet.

[Brooke · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this book.

[Anthony · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hubie's school got a new cafeteria lady today, and her name is Wanda Belch. With a name like that who wouldn't be hesitant to eat there. Anxiety along with the misinformation grapevine has Hubie ready to take a math test, or have a vaccination instead of entering the cafeteria. But to his surprise, Wanda is easy on the eyes, and the meal she whipped up has him wanting seconds, and thinking of having thirds, and hoping to stay for dinner.

[Junior Bodden · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cafeteria lady is such a good boo to read. It’s about this lady getting hired for the cafeteria and the kids could have smelled something really bad coming out of the kitchen, so they all were scared to eat the food. But after all it was the garbage. They were scared to even try to food but when they ended up trying it they all loved it. How I can incorporate this into the classroom is by having each student create their own story!

[Chloe]

No rating. You know, I don't remember this being a picture book. Because if it was, there would have been no reason to borrow it from the class library, but I did, and my third grade teacher probably wouldn't have carried it in said library because our target reading level was a bit above picture books.

First sentence:

We got a new cafeteria lady today.

[Josh Bader · Rating 5 out of 5]

These series were one of my childhood classics. I liked all of them. The best part is the graphics and pictures of all them. They give you the scared side of an elementary school student and then show the real thing at the end. These books always leave you feeling warm inside.

[Emily Knickerbocker]

This book is about rumors the students heard about the cafeteria lady, and when they finally get to lunch, they find out the truth. I would have my students write the importance of not listening to rumors and seeing if it is true.

[Sean Harding · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thaler Time #6
Black Lagoon #6
The series seems to be working through the entire personnel of a school, who is next?
Very average story telling which has taken one joke book and then attempted to make an empire out of it, in well unconvincing fashion.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this and rice cream! Wow the creativity is unpredictable in these books. This is my favorite so far. Who doesn't like food? Well, near the end of the story, your affections change.

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cafeteria ladies always treated me right...plenty of cookies!

[Grandma M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love these books about worrying about nothing and finding out all the stories aren't true.

[alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

yeah! ignore those rumours! eat that cafeteria food! nice.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

What is the purpose of wearing a hairnet if your ponytail isn't in it?

[Nameless S. Essays · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it much more as a kid.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Allllllll the nostalgia
Loved the spaghetti shoelaces!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

The art is very fun. The story was pleasant and easy to understand for my students.

[Villain E · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kids start spreading tall tales about the new lunch lady.

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 3 out of 5]

For more reviews, check out my blog: Craft-Cycle

Another fun Black Lagoon book. Similar to the gym teacher one, this one is far less morbid than the first two books. There are some animal-related things (class pets disappearing) that are a little freaky and gross, but most of them are far enough removed that they aren't overly disturbing. You can infer from the pictures what is going to happen, but they are not overly graphic. Fun illustrations, good story, this is a nice continuation of the Black Lagoon series.

[Leanne McElroy]

Is this where I got my grungey environmental writing brain from? Hmm.

[Sherry Thornberry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story about how kids get a new cafeteria lady and they make up all of these awful stories about her to the point that they are scared to go to lunch. when they get there, they find that she is sweet and makes great food. Very humorous with great illustrations and word play.
Our author; Mike has produced many well known and loved characters in children's literature. He was the creator of "The Letterman" for the PBS Electric Company series.Mike Thaler lives in West Lim, Oregon with his wife Patty. He welcomes all invitations to speak at school programs, conferences, seminars, and churches.

Mike and Patty travel throughout the world helping children and teachers create their own stories, riddles, and books. He writes and teaches with creativity, inspiring his audiences with a love of language.
Additional resources;
The Cafeteria Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee. Grandma Annii's Storytime on yutube at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sq8b....
Lesson plans available at http://www.teachingbooks.net/

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

We like the stories in the Black Lagoon series by Mike Thaler and Jared Lee. Many children tend to think of people of authority as scary or mean, but this is just another example of how our expectations do not always live up to reality. The illustrations really make the narrative come alive and we enjoyed reading this story together.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wanda Belch is the new cafeteria lady at school. Rumor has it that she drives a garbage truck to school. And her favorite dish is "Souffle of Science Experiments!"

Another in the series of Black Lagoon books. The kids love it - not literature, but enjoyable fun - great pictures to encourage the imagination, until they get to the end and meet the beautiful Wanda Belch and taste her delicious homemade cookies!

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though the storyline is a wash repeat for all the "Black Lagoon" books, the real reason to read them is to find out what crazy stories and pictures the kids' imagination can come up with. However, for those who might not know, after worrying about this unknown adult, the kids learn that they aren't scary, are really quite normal and nice.

No content issues.

[Elines Flores · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is AWESOME! This particular one (#6) addresses the theme of fear in the unknown. Students, especially those bitty kinders, always have a fear of something new and this book could help assuage that fear. I really enjoy all the illustrations and its humorous point of view. This is definitely a great read aloud!

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this story! I had never heard of this book until a couple weeks ago, but I think it works well when kids are learning how to make predictions when they are reading. Also, it is full of descriptions, so it opens children up to that world of reading, which could then filter over into their writing. Fantastic for a read-aloud story!

[Jordan Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel their is a message within this book that is teaching kid to not judge somebody just because of things you have heard. Students believe that their lunch lady is a mean, ugly, nasty women that cooks gross food that is weeks old. When they finally learn to meet her they see she is in fact a beautiful lady that has prepared great nutritious food for the children.

[Jeanette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mike Thaler has a series of fun books where students' worst fears about the new cafeteria lady (gym teacher, librarian, substitute teacher, etc.) turn out to be unfounded. A reminder, for children and adults alike, that the unknown is seldom as bad as our worries make it out to be.

[Hollee Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a funny book! It would be great for a read aloud! The book talks about a new school cafeteria lady and a lot of rumors about what food she makes. In the end they find out she is very sweet and makes delicious food.

[Shareena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great illustrations