Sideways Stories From Wayside School
Author: Louis Sachar
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Copyright: 1985
Pages: 118
Reading Level: 3
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Rating: *****

Summary:
Wayside school is all sorts of crazy. Not only was the school built up instead of as one level, so it is thirty stories high, but the teachers on the thirtieth floor are a little crazy as are the kids. Their first teacher Mrs. Gorf used to turn everyone into apples for everything from sneezing, to asking a question. But one day as she was about to turn them all into apples one of them held up a mirror and she turned herself into an apple and another teacher ate her by accident. Each chapter is than about a student in the class from Joe who didn’t know how to count, Deedee to the fact that there is no Mrs. Zarves because there is not nineteenth story. It talks about each kid: Joe, Sharie, Todd, Bebe, Calvin, Myron, Maurecia, Paul, Dana, Jason, Rondi, Sammy, Deedee, D.J., John, Leslie, Kathy, Ron, The three Erics, Allison, Dameon, Jenny, Terrence, Joy, Nancy, Stephen and finally Louis. Each student has a unique thing about them and something that will make you laugh. There is now way to summarize all of them up into one page, so you will just have to read the book yourself!


Who would benefit from reading this?
This is a good book for kids who can get bored with the same story line and a plot that takes a while to get to. This book is almost like 30 mini stories, instead of just one.

Potential problems/conflicts:
The kids can be harsh at time to each other and the teachers can be stern but there is nothing too outrageous…well outrageous in the sense that would cause a problem.

My reaction:
I loved this book as a kid and I love it now. It is just plain hilarious. From the first page till the last I am laughing. I still to this day can’t get over Mrs. Gorf turning them all into apples and then she gets eaten. It is one of the most entertaining starts to a book! A fun read and great for kids because each chapter is only a couple pages and can be picked up and started again each night without having to remember much about what you read last night. A very fun and funny book no doubt!