Sideways Stories From Wayside School

By Louis Sachar and Aleksei Bitskoff

Meet the delightfully eccentric and unusually gifted pupils of Wayside School in this instalment of the brilliantly quirky Wayside School series – from Louis Sachar, author of the bestselling novel Holes

As recommended on Radio 4 Kids Book Club, August 2024

There has been a terrible mistake. Instead of having thirty classrooms side by side, Wayside School is thirty storeys high! (The builder said he was sorry.) Perhaps that's why all sorts of strange and unusual things keep happening – especially in Mrs Jewls's classroom on the very top floor.

There's the terrifying Mrs Gorf, who gets an unusually fruity comeuppance; Terrible Todd, who always gets sent home early; and Mauricia, who has a strange ice-cream addiction. Meanwhile, John can only read upside down, and Leslie is determined to sell her own toes.

From top to bottom, Wayside is packed with quirky and hilarious characters who are all brought to life in this new edition with delightful illustrations by Aleksei Bitskoff throughout. This is an unmissable, irrepressible story of mixed-up mayhem from Louis Sachar, the bestselling author of Holes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Release date: Aug 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781526622068

Louis Sachar

When Louis Sachar was going to school, his teachers always pronounced his name wrong. Now that he has become a popular author of children’s books, teachers all over the country are pronouncing his name wrong. It should be pronounced “Sacker,” like someone who tackles quarterbacks or someone who stuffs potatoes into sacks. Mr. Sachar's first book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, was accepted for publication during his first year of law school. After receiving his law degree, he spent six years asking himself whether he wanted to be an author or a lawyer before deciding to write for children full-time. His books include Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Wayside School Is Falling Down, Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, and Holes, winner of a Newbery Medal and National Book Award.

Book preview

BOOKS BY LOUIS SACHAR

The Wayside School series

Sideways Stories from Wayside School

Wayside School Is Falling Down

Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom

Holes

There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom

Fuzzy Mud

The Marvin Redpost series

Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth?

Marvin Redpost: Why Pick on Me?

Marvin Redpost: Is He a Girl?

Marvin Redpost: Alone in His Teacher’s House

Marvin Redpost: Class President

Marvin Redpost: A Flying Birthday Cake?

Marvin Redpost: Super Fast, Out of Control

Marvin Redpost: A Magic Crystal?

In memory of Robert J. Sachar and to my mother, Andy and Jeff

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1.MRS GORF

2.MRS JEWLS

3.JOE

4.SHARIE

5.TODD

6.BEBE

7.CALVIN

8.MYRON

9.MAURECIA

10.PAUL

11.DANA

12.JASON

13.RONDI

14.SAMMY

15.DEEDEE

16.D.J.

17.JOHN

18.LESLIE

19.MISS ZARVES

20.KATHY

21.RON

22.THE THREE ERICS

23.ALLISON

24.DAMEON

25.JENNY

26.TERRENCE

27.JOY

28.NANCY

29.STEPHEN

30.LOUIS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

INTRODUCTION

This book contains thirty stories about the children and teachers at Wayside School. But before we get to them, there is something you ought to know so that you don’t get confused.

Wayside School was accidentally built sideways. It was supposed to be only one storey high, with thirty classrooms all in a row. Instead it is thirty storeys high, with one classroom on each storey. The builder said he was very sorry.

The children at Wayside like having a sideways school. They have an extra-large playground.

The children and teachers described in this book all go to class on the top floor. So there are thirty stories from the thirtieth storey of Wayside School. It has been said that these stories are strange and silly. That is probably true. However, when I told stories about you to the children at Wayside, they thought you were strange and silly. That is probably also true.

1

MRS GORF

Mrs Gorf had a long tongue and pointed ears. She was the meanest teacher in Wayside School. She taught the class on the thirtieth storey.

‘If you children are bad,’ she warned, ‘or if you answer a problem wrong, I’ll wiggle my ears, stick out my tongue, and turn you into apples!’ Mrs Gorf didn’t like children, but she loved apples.

Joe couldn’t add. He couldn’t even count. But he knew that if he answered a problem wrong, he would be turned into an apple. So he copied from John. He didn’t like to cheat, but Mrs Gorf had never taught him how to add.

One day Mrs Gorf caught Joe copying John’s paper. She wiggled her ears – first her right one, then her left – stuck out her tongue, and turned Joe into an apple. Then she turned John into an apple for letting Joe cheat.

‘Hey, that isn’t fair,’ said Todd. ‘John was only trying to help a friend.’

Mrs Gorf wiggled her ears – first her right one, then her left – stuck out her tongue, and turned Todd into an apple. ‘Does anybody else have an opinion?’ she asked.

Nobody said a word.

Mrs Gorf laughed and placed the three apples on her desk.

Stephen started to cry. He couldn’t help it. He was scared.

‘I do not allow crying in the classroom,’ said Mrs Gorf. She wiggled her ears – first her right one, then her left – stuck out her tongue, and turned Stephen into an apple.

For the rest of the day, the children were absolutely quiet. And when they went home, they were too scared even to talk to their parents.

But Joe, John, Todd, and Stephen couldn’t go home. Mrs Gorf just left them on her desk. They were able to talk to each other, but they didn’t have much to say.

Their parents were very worried. They didn’t know where their children were. Nobody seemed to know.

The next day Kathy was late for school. As soon as she walked in, Mrs Gorf turned her into an apple.

Paul sneezed during class. He was turned into an apple.

Nancy said, ‘God bless you!’ when Paul sneezed. Mrs Gorf wiggled her ears – first her right one, then her left – stuck out her tongue, and turned Nancy into an apple.

Terrence fell out of his chair. He was turned into an apple.

Maurecia tried to run away. She was halfway to the door as Mrs Gorf’s right ear began to wiggle. When she reached the door, Mrs Gorf’s left ear wiggled. Maurecia opened the door and had one foot outside when Mrs Gorf stuck out her tongue. Maurecia became an apple.

Mrs Gorf picked up the apple from the floor and put it on her desk with the others. Then a funny thing happened. Mrs Gorf turned around and fell over a piece of chalk.

The three Erics laughed. They were turned into apples.

Mrs Gorf had a dozen apples on her desk: Joe, John, Todd, Stephen, Kathy, Paul, Nancy, Terrence, Maurecia and the three Erics – Eric Fry, Eric Bacon and Eric Ovens.

Louis, the yard teacher, walked into the classroom. He had missed the children at recess. He had heard that Mrs Gorf was a mean teacher. So he came up to investigate. He saw the twelve apples on Mrs Gorf’s desk. ‘I must be wrong,’ he thought. ‘She must be a good teacher if so many children bring her apples.’ He walked back down to the playground.

The next day a dozen more children were turned into apples. Louis, the yard teacher, came back into the room. He saw twenty-four apples on Mrs Gorf’s desk. There were only three children left in the class. ‘She must be the best teacher in the world,’ he thought.

By the end of the week all of the children were apples. Mrs Gorf was very happy. ‘Now I can go home,’ she said. ‘I don’t have to teach any more. I won’t have to walk up thirty flights of stairs ever again.’

‘You’re not going anywhere,’ shouted Todd. He jumped off the desk and bopped Mrs Gorf on the nose. The rest of the apples followed. Mrs Gorf fell on the floor. The apples jumped all over her.

‘Stop,’ she shouted, ‘or I’ll turn you into applesauce!’

But the apples didn’t stop, and Mrs Gorf could do nothing about it.

‘Turn us back into children,’ Todd demanded.

Mrs Gorf had no choice. She stuck out her tongue, wiggled her ears – this time her left one first, then her right – and turned the apples back into children.

‘All right,’ said Maurecia, ‘let’s go get Louis. He’ll know what to do.’

‘No!’ screamed Mrs Gorf. ‘I’ll turn you back into apples.’ She wiggled her ears – first her right one, then her left – and stuck out her tongue. But Jenny

Reviews for Sideways Stories From Wayside School

[rbeene-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A fun book.

[grammapollyreads · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Although this book probably should have been on my radar when it was originally published, I don't recall reading it until now. It showed up in a news article somewhere in which the book was determined to be offensive to teachers. So I did what any self-respecting book lover would do and checked it out of the local library.

Well, here's the thing. This book is silly and outdated and, quite frankly, pretty weird in a 1970s kind of way. When I read the "about the author blurb at the end of the book and learned that he was in high school when he wrote the first story in the book, it all started to make sense.

Weirdness aside, I actually don't know how many kids today would even choose this book out of a stack of other books to read. If they did, there are some are talking points about acceptance and just being a kid that do transcend the decades.

[cephas730 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fond memories reading this in elementary school. The short chapters, each being a self contained story, is a strength for younger readers.

[khal_khaleesi · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

When I heard that another book in the Wayside School series was coming out, I had to reread the book that started it all. These books were my childhood! I found out that I still love this series even as an adult.

Each chapter tells a tale about each individual student, and there are three chapter dedicated to each teacher of the class on the thirtieth story of the school. Some of the time, the stories of each child/teacher don't make much sense, but that's the beauty of this book. It leaves you to ponder on what that chapter was about and come to your own conclusions. There are a couple of chapters that teach some good lessons too.

One thing I also loved were the illustrations of each character before their chapter started. They are drawn very well. It was a nice touch, and it made it easier to picture that person in the story. I think it's a great idea for kids who feel like they are too old for picture books, yet they still like some illustrations in their book.

This is such an easy and fun novel to read. It's not very long which is perfect for the intended age group. I believe kids ages 8 - 13 will definitely love these stories the most although it's a fun book for any age.

I would definitely recommend Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar!

[shannon.allen · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Listening to my son giggle as I read the wacky stories about Wayside School to him took me back to my childhood. I remember hiding under the covers with a flashlight at night well after my mom told me to get some sleep. After every assignment in class, I would sneak this book out of my little desk and try to get in another couple of pages before the teacher caught me. It was good to see that my son loved the same little kids that I had loved so many years before him. I recommend this book to any parent looking for a book to read to their child one or two chapters a night. I recommend it to the second/third grader that loves to laugh their little behind off. I think that it should be a fixture in every library and school book fair around the country. The stories are short yet full of quirks that the reader just can't help but smile about weeks after finishing the stories. This is a good imagination building book also. I used it to help my son come up with silly stories about his school, teachers, and friends. I even had him draw pictures for his stories and can see how an elementary school teacher could use the Wayside books to teach many different subjects. This was definitely worth the dig in the local library's large stack of old books!

[norabelle414 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wayside School was supposed to be 30 classrooms side-by-side but instead it was build sideways – 30 classrooms tall. This is a book of stories about the class on the 30th floor.

The whole “sideways school” thing never made much sense to me as a kid; I’ve always lived in an urban area and I never went to a school building that had less than 4 stories. A 1-story school would have been far more bizarre to me than a 30-story school. Other than that, this book really holds up! It’s a great intro to absurdism for kids. My particular favorite was the story about Sherrie, who sleeps all through class and the teacher lets her because she assumes Sherrie must be concentrating on learning so much that she falls asleep. Even a story which could have aged poorly, about a boy with a girl name and a girl with a boy name who decide to switch names, turned out to be well-handled. If you remember this book from childhood and have considered revisiting it, I highly recommend doing so! Or give it to your own kids with confidence.

[bookwyrmm_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I never read this one when I was little (I did read and like Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School), and maybe I would have liked this better if I did. It is very, very dated, and the chapter illustrations just killed it.

[michellehewitt · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Easy read, good book. The children, even younger children, loved this book. They understood the humor and adults found it silly.
Very appropriate for any elementary school age child.

[amassingale-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This story is about a school that was built incorrectly. Instead of being built one story tall with 30 classrooms right next to each other, Wayside School was built 30 stories tall with only 1 room on each floor. The story focuses on room 30 in Mirs Jewls class. Each chapter goes through the classroom and introduces each student in the class. The weird thing about these students, is that they are all a little strange. Every part of the school is a strange place with a strange staff. THere are adventures on every floor. Genre: Fantasy becuase none of these stroies could, or would, happen.

[eoertl1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There was a terrible mistake-Wayside School was built with one classroom on top of another, thirty stories high! (The builder said he was sorry.) Maybe that's why all kinds of funny things happened at Wayside-especially on the thirteenth floor. This is one of my favorite books from my childhood. I enjoyed this read because it was silly and fun! The author makes a funny story into something that can be so real. The authors use of illustrations and cohesive text makes any kids come back for more. The text is easy to read and the chapters are equally spaced out.

[y3nhivu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book is about each and every student in one class and how different they are. But no matter how wacky or silly they are, they can always get along with each other.

[learn2laugh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Many laughs with giggling boys. Silly, but unexpected and worth it...if it is just to remember a little of our childhood.

[parejess · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a very silly book. It is about a class of children and their teacher, and each chapter is a story on each individual in turn. Though it is a chapter book, this is definitely classified as children's literature, for the actions of the characters and the humor in what they say and do is aimed toward and relatable to children today.

I first heard this story from the librarian at my elementary school in third grade and then read it on my own in fourth grade and found it absolutely hilarious. Though it's not quite my style now, I still can clearly see the appeal of this book to children and why they would want to read the stories over and over again--as an eight-year-old, who WOULDN'T want to read about kids trying to sell their toes or stealing each other's lunches or getting kicked over the fence? Eight-year-old me was enthralled by those things.

[sarah_buckley-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved these stories when I was in grade school! They are so inventive and awesomely weird.

[amberthehuman · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I love love loved this as a kid. Why? Probably because it made no sense, a concept I had been encouraged to enjoy by my parents. There is no 19th floor, there is no Mrs. Zarves, that kind of madness. Is it the most intellectually stimulating book I've ever read? No. But they can't all be. They shouldn't all be.

[whisper1_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Sarchar is the Newbery award winner of the book Holes.

Built incorrectly, Wayside school is thirty classrooms tall and not thirty rooms in a row. The building is crocked and missing floor #19.

The students who attend are as wacky as the school.

The fight, they create, they laugh and they are filled with funny antics.

I read this with my nine year old grand daughter. She liked it and laughed right out loud.

I think this is a book that I could have skipped, except for the fact that I now have lovely memories of a giggly, blonde, giggly young lady who holds a special place in my heart.

[yona-414000 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

So funny. Great. I loved the sense of humor. There were so many unexpected things.

[deweyever · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Dated. Some stories came across as mean sprited and bullying to my elementary kids. Some they didn't get the jokes as the author intended. use with caution. Don't book talk.

[gjchauvin504 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book is hilarious. I could just see kids I know going to a school thirty stories tall, with a classroom on each side, struggling through torturous mosquito bites, a teacher who thinks you're a monkey, and all sorts of kooky and downright hilarious characters. I could read this over and over. It is so realistic, yet oh so spacy. I would defiantly recomend this book to students that love to laugh. I will defiantly read this book to my students because I know that I love books that have humor and i would read more of them so hopefully this would make students want to read more.

[cfalls_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A good story to introduce at the beginning of the school year. This is about a class of silly students that live in a school that was built 30 stories up instead of 30 classrooms wide. The adventures never end between the teachers and the students. Your students are guaranteed to laugh at these funny stories.

[venisa_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Genre: Fantasy

Review: This story was very comical and early elementary kids would love it. It was hard to choose a genre for this story because it was half one genre and half another almost. I made it fantasy because at the beginning of the book, the mean old teacher turns all her students into apples, which could never happen in real life. If it wasn't for this beginning to the story, I would have made it a realistic fiction because every student in a classroom is different and brings something unique to the class.

Media: pencils

[amygatt_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is really a just-for-fun book and was one of my favorites as a young reader. It is a compilation of very wacky stories about a school that was built sideways and has a lot of crazy teachers and students, including one new student named Sammy who actually turns out to be a dead rat in a trench coat. I think the best quality of this book is its ability to make students laugh and inspire their creative thinking skills.

[lekenned · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

These stories are great! Silly stories that are great for just encouraging students to read.

[sarahbatte · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite childrens books. These are little stories about different kids and teachers in wayside school. I really enjoyed reading this again from when I read as a child.

[gayldashersmith · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So funny and quirky and justifyably beloved by kids.

[mdemock_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book works well for guided reading groups or as a read aloud. It consists of many short stories about the students and other people at Wayside School. The stories are funny and quirky and appeal to most children.

[ms2turtle · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A book about differnt students and Ms.Jewls. The first chapter was about Ms.Gorf that changed students into apples if they didnt pay attention, answer a problem, or anything a teacher wouldnt give a punishment for.

[dbhutch_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is a good book with many stories about teachers and students in a weird school.This book has stories about every character in Miss Jewl's class.There are Miss Zarve , DeeDee ,and Louis the yard teacher.The seventeenth floor was never built and Miss Zarve's classroom was supposed to be there but she doesn't even exist!This book is the best book I have read!

[heathergabrich · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

These collection of book written by Louis Sachar are amazing for upper elementary and middle school kids. I chose this book to read with my practicum student and she loved it. It is about the crazy mixed up silly stories from Wayside School. The book focuses on the classroom on the 31st story and all of the crazy things that happen to the students. It begin with their teacher Mrs. Gorf turning all of the children in apples. They class get a new teacher, Mrs. Jewels. She imagines the whole class is monkey. That is where it all begin with the crazy mixed up stories to the students at Wayside School.

[menaramore · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book tells the strange and funny tales of the teachers and students from Wayside School. Each person has their own interesting and silly story to tell. Students love this book.