Review
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Title: Janitors School of Garbage
Author: Tyler Whitesides
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Middle grade fiction
Year Published: 2023
Number of Pages: 304
Binding: Hardback
ISBN: 978-1-63993-168-2
Price: $19.99
Reviewed by El Call for the Association of Mormon Letters
With divorced parents, a soon-to-be remarried mom, and a classmate who’s about to become his stepsister, Landon Murphy has been struggling. Like many middle-schoolers, he just wants to find a place where he belongs. It turns out, that place is the School of Garbage.
At the beginning of summer break, Landon’s future stepsister and current classmate, Jade, invites him to jump into a “magic” dumpster with her. It’s at this point that I regretted reading while eating breakfast; the magic of the dumpster isn’t about the lack of gross trash. In fact, throughout the book, garbage is still garbage. It still smells bad, it still squishes beneath Landon’s feet, and it still looks like trash. Instead, the magic is about the dumpster’s ability to transport Jade and Landon straight to the School of Garbage (somewhere in Texas, apparently).
The magic in the world centers on sanitation, with school janitors functioning as witches and wizards, keeping schools safe from nefarious trash monsters. Little creatures known as Servites, invisible to anyone not in the know, provide kids with an extra boost of creativity, focus, or strength. When the monsters’ behavior strays from their typical pattern, Landon is able to finally feel like he’s needed.
I was strangely delighted to see references to nasal swabs and masks, setting the novel in a post-acute-COVID era. Landon’s use of a smartphone felt strange as someone who definitely did not have a phone in middle school, but it feels realistic to how phones are used by younger kids now. The occasional illustrations add a touch of whimsy and world-building.
At one point, Landon asks Jade why one girl has been mean to a male classmate. Jade explained that the girl was mean because she liked the boy. This kind of logic—although genderswapped from its usual trope—isn’t a healthy perspective to perpetuate. While I understand that the sentiment is the logic of a middle-schooler, there is no in-world interrogation of its accuracy, which only serves to continue the myth.
Overall, I enjoyed reading Janitors School of Garbage, and by the time I’d gotten halfway through it, I’d already planned on holding onto it until my kindergartner is old enough to enjoy it.