''The Janitor's Boy'' is a

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

Andrew Clements Andrew Elborn Clements (May 29, 1949 – November 28, 2019) was an American author of children's literature. His debut novel '' Frindle'' won an award determined by the vote of U.S. schoolchildren in about 20 different U.S. states. In June 2015 ...

. Part of his school series, it was released by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

in 2000.

Plot summary

The book tells the story of a school student, Jack Rankin, whose father is the janitor of his school. Jack is made fun of by his friends for this, and he hates his father because of it. Lashing out, he puts a massive quantity of bubble gum up under his desk so that his father will have to clean it off. Unfortunately, he is caught and ends up having to clean it up himself under the supervision of his father the janitor. During this, he learns that it's very hard work to be a janitor, and learns of his father's dark past. He and his father become friends. As the book closes, a student shouts "You wanna be a janitor when you grow up too?!" and Jack says "Yes," smiles up at his father's face, and says, "yes I do."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janitor's Boy, The 2000 American novels Books by Andrew Clements American children's novels Novels set in Minnesota Novels set in elementary and primary schools 2000 children's books Works about janitors Books illustrated by Brian Selznick Children's books set in Minnesota Children's books set in schools