Janitors was a book that seemed to overflow with imagination. Many fantasy books nowadays seem to run along the same path. I can almost guess every single move made by every character because it’s been done over and over. This book isn’t anything like that.
The premise is that Janitors are not just your standard cleaners of schools. They are actually heavily armed magicians, loaded to the teeth with weaponry designed to kill and made from Toxites. Toxites are insidious creatures, dripping grime and eating the same. They are invisible, and incredibly dangerous. Infesting a school, a Toxite will literally feed off the brain waves of the students inside. The smarter the student, the more it feeds, and the more the student suffers. Students fall asleep in class, or walk into the corner to survey an incredibly interesting stain. All learning is lost.
Spencer knew none of this, just a regular student at Welcher Elementary. That is, until he began to notice. He accidently uses the magic soap that the janitors fail to keep hidden, and begans to see the Toxites. Soon, he and his naïve friend Daisy are pulled into the battle, armed with magic brooms, vacuum dust, and mops. They learn from the Janitors in the school that the Bereau of Educational Maintenance has pulled all janitorial support from schools, and across the nation education is drowning in a sea of Toxites. No one can figure out why, and neither can they stop it. Not only that, but the BEM is rounding up the last bits of resistance. Spencer and Daisy might be the only way to stop them, the unexpected factor. Or they might fail completely.
I was by and large impressed by this book. I would really like a better explanation, or at least a hint, of why the BEM turns evil so quick. Besides that, the adults in the book seem rather… stupid. It’s understandable in a kid’s book, but some of the non-janitor adults are so pathetic it makes me wonder if education was even working in the first place. I’m currently reading the second book in the series, and it is great as well. The characters are amazingly different from each other. Even the main character is decidedly unique, and that made me very interested in the story. I would recommend it to anyone who has ever said, ‘I’ve heard this story before.’
With Janitors, you haven’t.