Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Author: Louis Sachar
Copyright Date: 1978
Publisher: Avon Books
Number of Pages: 124
Reading Level: Ages 9 & Up
Genre: Humor, Fiction

Summary

"Sideways Stories from Wayside School" is a silly little book about a class on the 30th story of a school building. The school was supposed to be built with 30 classrooms all on one floor, but the builder accidentally built each classroom on top each other, instead of next to each other. The book contains 30 chapters about the different students, teachers and people that have some sort of connection with the school and the class on the 30th floor. None of the stories really make sense until the end of the book. The book goes through different stories about Mrs. Gorf (their first, mean teacher), Mrs. Jewls (their new, nice teacher), Joe, Sharie, Todd, Bebe, Calvin, Myron, Maurecia, Paul, Dana, Jason, Rondi, Sammy, Deedee, D. J., John, Leslie, Miss Zarves, Kathy, Ron, the three Erics, Allison, Dameon, Jenny, Terrence, Joy, Nancy, Stephen, and Louis (the ground keeper and author of the story). Each child has some silly story or something different about them--some different personality trait or experience that they go through. In the end, Louis comes up to their floor and tells them a story about them.

Reaction
I thought this was a pretty funny book! It wasn't my favorite, but it was a light, easy, fun read.

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to anyone looking for a laugh. There are some super silly things in this book!

Problems/Conflicts

Some of the things that people do in this book are just a little strange, for example Mrs. Gorf turns the children into apples. Eventually she, herself, gets turned into an apple and Louis eats her without knowing it.