Janitors by Tyler Whitesides

Over the last few years, I have really enjoyed the Janitors series by Tyler Whitesides.  Beginning with the first Janitors book, we follow Spencer and Daisy, our girl/boy team of protagonists as they and their friends fight against the BEM (Bureau of Educational Maintenance) who, despite its name, is secretly trying to take over the minds of the all the kids in the world.  The BEM uses toxites, little disgusting vermin, to try to control the thoughts and motivation of kids, while Spencer, Daisy, and their team of friends who are against the BEM work to destroy the toxites, and help save education and the minds of children.

The  series so far, is four books long, with a fifth one coming in just the next few days from today, and I am looking forward to it!  If it is anything like the four previous books, I will enjoy it a lot, and so will a lot of the young people who are in the target audience of the series.  Janitors is written to a middle grade audience, but adults can enjoy it as well.

The series can be genuinely scary at times, (there is very real peril, and more than one character death) and for my part, the ally/enemy Dez who vacilates between the good and bad sides depending on how he will benefit at the time, is getting very frustrating for me, and not in a good way.  The fact that the good guys continue to trust him and take him back time and again doesn't help me to trust their judgement;  I don't see them as charitable for forgiving him over and over again, only stupid, and willing to risk damage to their cause for which they otherwise seem ready to sacrifice so much.  

Despite that, I still enjoy the series very much.  There is plenty of action, and the glopified janitor tools that the good guys use, provide plenty of entertaining surprises.  I don't know what's coming next!  I like the characters; the good guys are very entertaining and diverse, and the bad guys are a well organized groups of baddies.  Mr. Clean in particular, is a very plausible, motivated villain.
Over all, it is a series that I enjoy, and I look forward to the fifth book in the series!

Janitors Series:

Book 1 (copyright 2012)- Janitors
Book 2 (copyright 2013)- Janitors: Secrets of New Forest Academy
Book 3 (copyright 2014)- Janitors: Curse of the Broomstaff
Book 4 (copyright 2015)- Janitors: The Strike of the Sweepers

Book 5 (copyright 2015) will be titled Janitors: Heroes of the Dustbin.  I look forward to it!

The Janitors series is written by Tyler Whitesides, and published by Shadow Mountain.