How Lunchbox Jones Saved Me from Robots, Traitors, and Missy the Cruel - Hardcover

"With humor and heart, Brown tells a story of unlikely friendship. Readers who enjoyed Lisa Yee's Warp Speed (2011) or Jeffrey Brown's Star Wars: Jedi Academy series will find a similar brand of humor here." - Booklist Online

"There's nothing robotic about Lunchbox Jones. It's a keenly-observed slice of middle-school life, told with plenty of humor and heart . . . and, okay, robots." --#1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Gordon Korman

"Though they may not shine in the robotics department, Luke and his team succeed in other ways in this likable comedy." --Kirkus Reviews

"A winning blend of humorous and poignant moments. . . Luke's struggles with his brother's choices will resonate with readers facing a complex and uncertain world, while his comically agonized musings. . . Will keep them entertained." --Publishers Weekly

"The friendship between Arty and Cash is both preposterous and completely believable. Ultimately Life on Mars isn't about making connections to other planets so much as making them across the street." --Kurtis Scaletta, author of MUDVILLE and JINXED!, on LIFE ON MARS

"The comic byplay is often nicely gross, and the science talk dovetails with current pedagogical fads." --Kirkus Reviews on LIFE ON MARS

Luke Abbott's school is the losing-est school in the history of losing. And that's just fine for him. He'd rather be at home playing video games and avoiding his older brother Rob and the Greatest Betrayal of All Time.

But now he's being forced to join the robotics team, where surely he'll help uphold the school's losing streak. He'll also meet a colorful cast of characters, including: Mikayla, the girl who does everything with her toes; Jacob and Jacob, who aren't twins but might as well be; the sunflower seed-obsessed Stuart; and Missy the Cruel, Luke's innocent-looking bully since they were six-years-old. But it's an unlikely connection with a mysterious boy known only as “Lunchbox Jones" that will change Luke's life. Turns out, Luke and Lunchbox Jones have a lot more in common than just robots . . . .

With nonstop laughs and enough heart to make even a mechanical robot shed a tear, Jennifer Brown's new book is poised to secure her status as a middle-grade author to know and read.