What do You think about Sideways Stories From Wayside School (2004)?
We pulled this unassuming little book out of my husband’s childhood bookshelf over Thanksgiving break (my in-laws seriously never get rid of anything) and we had absolutely no idea what kind of wonderful craziness lay waiting for us inside. We had been reading The Phantom Tollbooth…but I kind of sort of accidentally/on purpose left it at home.Listen, I’m not saying The Phantom Tollbooth isn’t a brilliant book…with the wit and the puns and the wit and the plays on perspective and the…wit…and the…zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. Seriously, there’s a point where you just want to throw up your hands and scream, “oh my god Norton Juster, not everything in this world has to MEAN SOMETHING!!!”Enter Sideways Stories From Wayside School. Wayside School was accidentally built thirty stories high. It’s a place where students get transformed into apples, where they’re encouraged to sleep through class, where that new kid in a stinky raincoat is much more insidious than he outwardly appears. It’s a place where people flavored ice-cream is made and enjoyed (except the Kathy flavored one – that curmudgeon will never change), where no substitute teacher is ever to be trusted, and where “you don’t need a reason to be happy.”It’s a place of absurd humor that never speaks down to the intelligence of a child. It’s a place that made both of my daughters (and myself) completely engaged in story time. I think I enjoyed reading these out loud just as much as they enjoyed hearing them. It’s a place that almost never has to mean anything at all, but that occasionally does in surprisingly brilliant ways.This is the one and only book that my daughter has begged and pleaded to take to bed with her so she could keep reading it. We gave her the sequels for Christmas and she immediately pulled one out and wanted to read it right away. (It ended up being the third one, but it almost made more sense to read these out of order.) Life has pretty much been kicking my ass lately, and reading these stories out loud to my girls at night has been the best stress reliever. It’s not every author who will challenge one to attempt a “French donkey with tonsillitis” voice. But of course I had to try.
—Catie
The only thing I remembered about this book from the long, long ago when I read it was that I really liked it. I just bought it and the 2 sequels for my niece, and had to check it out again before passing it on to her. I'm glad I read it again as it gave me a nice jaunt down memory lane. I never read the sequels, and am not going to read them now due to having so much other stuff to read, but I'm sure she'll like them.Right off the bat in chapter one we have an evil bitch of a teacher named Mrs. Gorf who actually reminds me of my 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Ball. She has a forked tongue, can wiggle her ears, cast spells, and do all kinds of evil deeds (Mrs. Gorf, not Mrs. Ball, though the latter could certainly have pulled all that off if she'd tried; she was definitely mean enough to pull from the dark side of the force if she had the ability to use it at all). No fan of suspense or plot build-up, Sachar immediately sees her cannibalized by the recess teacher, and then it's on to chapter 2. What a hook, eh? We hear from her ghost toward the end of the book for a page or 2, and then she's remurdered by a hug from a student. Alas for Mrs. Gorf.One thing I really liked about this book was that all the chapters are titled with the name of the person it's about. E.g. chapter 1 is "Mrs. Gorf." Wayside school was built without a 19th story. There are 30 floors, but the 19th simply doesn't exist. The teacher on that floor, Miss. Zarves, also doesn't exist, though a student is instructed to take a note to her. (He manages it quite logically, actually). That's all spelled out early on in the book, and then we get to chapter 19 entitled "Miss Zarves," and it simply states "There is no Miss Zarves. There is no 19th story. Sorry." Ingenious.If you like short, silly kid stories, then this is quite good. If you read it when you were a kid, then you know whether or not you like it, of course. I believe any elementary age child who enjoys reading would enjoy this book. The stories are short (3-5 pages each) and easy to read. There's also a fair amount of fun wordplay that I always appreciate, as mentioned in the paragraph above, but the stories also have a plot and aren't solely linguistic acrobatics.
—Jason
January 20, Chapter 1I think Mrs.Gorf is a really mean teacher, because she turned her students into an apple, when they did nothing wrong.January 27 , Chapter 2Mrs. Jewls is a kind teacher, she thinks that her students are terribly cute. And she plans to give them a banana, because she thought that they look like a monkey.February 3, Chapter 3Joe is a boy who can't count properly.I think it's funny when he can only count backwards, but will still get the correct answer when Mr's Jewls ask him questions.February 10, Chapter 4I think Sharie needs to sleep more at home, not at school, because while she was sleeping she rolled out of the classroom's window. She fell from the 30th floor, but the PE teacher caught her just in time. Februay 17, Chapter 5I think Todd is a smart boy, because he save his classmates from the 2 robbersFebruay 24, Chapter 6I really enjoyed reading this chapter because, Bebe and Calvin had a great team workMarch 3, Chapter 7I think this chapter was very funny because, Calvin was ask to delivered a note to Mrs. Zarves on the 19th floor, but there was no 19th floor at Wayside SchoolMarch 10, Chaper 8I think Myron is very kind because he save his classmate dog that got hit by a carMarch 24, Chapter 9 Maurecia is a girl who eats icecream all the time, even during class time. I like her because she can eat icecream all the time, and not scared to get fat.March 31, Chapter 10Dana has too many mosquito bites. She can't even concentrate during class time, because it itches. Mrs. Jewls help Dana by turning her mosquito bites into numbersApril 21, Chapter 11Jason is a boy who likes to chew gums. One day his gum stuck on his pants and he couldn't get out of his chair. With the help of his friend Joy he got out of the chair.
—Pink
