I find that I forgot to review book three in this series, Janitors: Curse of the Broomstaff, but it’s too long ago now to do it justice. Instead I’ll pick up with the lastest book in the series, Janitors: Strike of the Sweepers. Warning – this review will contain spoilers for the previous books.
The Janitors series is supposed to be a five book series, and following that structure, this is the book where things get really dark for our heroes. The Bureau of Educational Maintenance, or BEM, is gaining more and more power. BEM among sci-fi fans stands for “Bug-Eyed Monsters”, which I’m not sure is a coincidence here. Where last book they found a way to ride toxites, the horrible little creatures who prowl our schools, absorbing children’s brainwaves, in this book they find a way to merge them with people, creating even more powerful minions.
But the Rebel Janitors, those still trying to protect our schools and children from toxites, still have some remaining hope in the form of the Manualis Custodem, a old text written by the original witches from which the janitors have descended. The book contains, among other things, instructions on how to bring back the three Founding Witches, whom the Rebels hope will have the power to combat the BEM and their bug-eyed monster brigades.
Much of the Rebels’ hopes continue to lay in Spencer, our young hero who in the last book discovered he has become an Auran, one of the eternally-young wizards left behind by the witches to monitor the world and ensure the continued supply of glop, the source of magical power. Along with his brave, if gullible, friend Daisy Gates, his father Alan, and the rest of the Rebel team, they are on a quest to retrieve the Three Hammers and bring back the Founding Witches.
But nothing is ever easy when you’re up against the BEM, and Spencer and gang, even armed with more new glopified custodial tools, will have their work cut out for them.
Whitesides is at his best in Strike of the Sweepers, balancing humor, action, adventure, and suspense in a page-turner of a middle-grade novel. Twist after twist keeps things lively, while still allowing us to revel in the fun world that is Janitors. As deep and fully-realized as any of the Fablehaven books, Whitesides manages to keep the tone lighter, less dark, though parents should be warned that characters (warning: even main ones) are killed, though generally in non-gory ways. Nor do his heroes treat such lightly.
There is plenty of comic relief throughout, of course, and enough grade school level “gross out” to keep the more reluctant readers interested. I read it aloud to my kids, and even the thirteen-year-old was begging me to keep reading whenever we had to stop for the night. It’s not a long read, but out loud it will likely take four to five hours. I had fun reading it. Only the high stakes in the story keeps me from wishing I could be a Rebel Janitor.
The book does end on something of a cliff-hanger. Things are not looking good for our Rebel friends. Expect the final book to be a real humdinger! It’s going to be a long wait until next September.