Not that good. I found the story hard to believe and I love fantasy stories. I also thought it was kind of boring. ( )

Having just arrived in the small town of Welcher, twelve-year-old Spencer Zumbro is still trying to get used to being the new kid in school. As the oldest child in a family of five, Spencer can barely find a moment of peace for himself - especially when his three-year-old brother Max can usually be found either hiding in Spencer's closet, ready to surprise him, or jumping on his older brother's bed while wearing sneakers. Spencer sometimes feels like he's the only tidy one in his whole family - he puts his dirty clothes in the hamper, cleans up any food he spills, and okay, so maybe he's just the slightest bit germophobic - but doesn't everybody wash their hands ten to fifteen times a day?

When the class bully - Dez Riley - writes on his face during algebra class, Spencer is in for a bigger shock than his sudden bout of inexplicable drowsiness. The mysterious pink soap he uses to wash his face, causes his skin to tingle and burn; although it certainly takes care of the black marker quickly. Suddenly, Spencer starts seeing weird creatures in his classroom and all around Welcher Elementary School: bat-like creatures rummaging through trashcans in the lunchroom, dust gophers foraging beside bookcases, and salamanders frolicking in the drinking fountain!

The strangest thing is that nobody else seems to see the creatures - nobody, that is, except the janitors of Welcher Elementary School. Spencer starts to suspect that the janitors know a secret that no one else does. He doesn't know how close to the truth he actually is: the creatures - known as Toxites - feed off the brainwaves of students, slowly draining their intelligence and replacing it with apathy, fatigue and inattention.

Now, with the help of fellow classmate Daisy 'Gullible' Gates - another one of Dez's frequent targets - Spencer must fight with and against a secret janitorial society that wields wizard-like powers. But who can Spencer and Daisy trust and how will they protect their school and ultimately the world? The Battle for Education has begun!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The characters are extremely likable, and the story teaches truly valuable lessons about friendship, honesty, and standing up for what you believe in, even in the face of ridicule. I give this book an A! and I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series; Janitors: Secrets of New Forest Academy. ( )

This book was written by another author to visit our school, Tyler Whitesides. His presentation was very much like Brandon Mull's--humorous, very visual and engaging to students. After his presentation, I shared my observations with him and I was surprised when he told me that Brandon Mull had been his mentor! This first book in the Janitors series is about Spencer, who is attending a new school and having a hard time avoiding the school bully. He washes his face with a magical soap and starts seeing creatures in the school who are trying to steal braincells from students, making them listless and unable to concentrate. Spencer accidentally discovers that the custodians are a secret league trying to capture these creatures and save the students of America. He and his new friend Daisy get caught up in trying to help the custodians and find Spencer's missing dad. This book contains lots of gross and messy things, which 5th grade boys would enjoy. This is the first book in the series of five. If students enjoy this one, they will probably like the rest. ( )

Great book for young reluctant readers. There is a great deal of action and intrigue. My son loved it. It's sort of like reading an action movie. Or as close as you can get. ( )

As if things were complicated enough for Spencer with being the new kid in school, he has to stay one step ahead of the class bully and now he is seeing creatures flying around his classroom. The Janitors tells the story of a league of custodians who seek to protect schools from beings that cause children to be listless, have trouble concentrating and generally wreak havoc. I think the concept has great potential but the execution was poor and not thoroughly fleshed out. The beginning of the book was great but began to fall apart about halfway through, it was as though the author ran out of ideas and just added a bunch of slapstick events to pad the book. In my opinion with more plot development and adding a bit more detail to the Janitor concept this book could have gone from meh to good. ( )