“Standing outside of St. Julia Child Elementary and Middle School, I choked on the stink.”

From Stephanie V. W. Lucianovic’s The League of Picky Eaters.

Minerva is a picky eater and at the start of her middle school experience, she receives the news that she has been placed in the remedial eater class, which is secretly called RETCH by all the students in the other food-loving classes. Not only is Minerva crushed that she’s been placed in the terrible class, but she’s sad that she won’t be in the same class as her best friends Patricia and Cindy. While Minerva tries to give gross foods a chance, there are just too many foods that overwhelm her tongue, making eating all the foods assigned to her an impossible task. When the school year starts, Minerva finds herself placed in RETCH with Alice, Akshay, Willa, and Ralph: who everyone knows are the oddest kids in school. As the terrible food assignments begin rolling in, Minerva is also heartbroken to find that Patricia and Cindy have dumped her. However, everything changes when Minerva finds a note about a secret meeting where her RETCH classmates invite her to join the League of Picky Eaters with countless tricks for surviving the year from past generations of picky eaters. Once she joins L.O.P.U., Minerva begins to discover her true worth as a friend and eater, but a shocking video she finds online that will change everything for picky eaters forever.

This story is captivating in both its humor and heart. The main character is relatable, and despite being somewhat outlandish, so is the quick story. The League of Picky Eaters is a book that will stay with young readers long after the book is finished.