Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar, Gregory Crouch, Adam McCauley (Illustrator), Adam Mccauley (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

All the kids from Wayside School had to spend 243 days in horrible schools while Wayside closed to get rid of the cows (Don't ask!). Now the kids are back and the fun begins again on every floor. Miss Much has prepared a Day on the 30th floor—with dogs and cats and frogs and skunks and pigs, and an orange named Fido causing a terrible commotion. In Mrs. Drazil's class, they're throwing a coffeepot, a sack of potatoes, a pencil sharpener, and a light bulb out the window to see which hits the ground first. But the big surprise is that Mrs. Jewls is expecting a baby—but one named Cootie Face or Bucket Head—and a substitute teacher is coming—and everyone knows what that means...

Publishers Weekly

Returning to the scene of Sideways Stories from Wayside School and Wayside School Is Falling Down, Sachar serves up 30 stories about the zany goings-on in his unorthodox 30-story-tall school. Sometimes silly, other times clever, the narrative revolves around the wacky substitute teachers who take Mrs. Jewls's place when she is on maternity leave. The kids on the 30th floor must contend with a fellow whose third nostril enables him to "suck" students' voices up his nose, and a rather sadistic woman whose third ear (hidden under her hair) gives her the power to read students' thoughts. The book's pace and punch seem to slacken midway through; the funniest vignettes (including the principal's caustic diatribe over the PA when he thinks the system is off and a parody of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas that questions Santa Claus's existence) are found in the first half. But this will hardly deter Wayside School devotees from turning the pages eagerly, awaiting the next twist of plot or play on words. Sachar's supply of both seems inexhaustible. Illustrations not seen by PW. Ages 8-up. (Apr.)

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-These additional anecdotes about Wayside School will surely tickle the funny bones of Sachar's fans. Thirty more ``time outs'' are miraculously conflated into a semicoherent story about the students and teachers at this unique 30-story 1-classroom-per-floor elementary school. Mrs. Jewls, the teacher atop the school, is out on maternity leave and her students find themselves facing three consecutive substitutes: Mr. Gorf, who steals kids' voices; Mrs. Drazil, who can be super sweet or sociopathically sour depending on the class's adherence to her rules; and, finally, the mind-reading and malicious Miss Nogard, who has the disturbing desire to turn students against one another. Sachar's offering contains hilarity, malevolence, romance, relentless punning, goofiness, inspiration, revenge, and poignancy. There's an edge here that may disturb some adults-a couple of the subs are over-the-top mean-but young readers will revel in the pranks, wade through the romance, identify with the students' thoughts, detect the thread connecting these stories, and come to realize that good is better than glum.-John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6-It took 243 days to get rid of all the cows and now the world's wackiest school is open again. That may explain the coffee pots, potatoes, and pencil sharpeners flying out of the windows of Mrs. Drazil's class. Or the dogs, cats and skunks causing an uproar on the thirtieth floor. By Louis Sachar. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

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Chapter One

Explanation

For two hundred and forty-three days, a lonely sign hung on the front of the old school building.

On some days a child would come, look at the sign, then sadly walk away.

Or else a child would come, look at the sign, stand on her head, then sadly walk away.

Louis watched them come and go.

But he never said "Hi!" to them. He hid when they came.

It was his job to repair the school.

Louis used to be the yard teacher at Wayside School. He passed out the balls and played with the kids at recess and lunch.

When the school closed, the children were sent to other schools. Horrible schools. No two kids were sent to the same school.

Louis was afraid he'd cry if he talked to them.

But he worked hard. For two hundred and forty-two days, he pushed and pulled, shoveled and mopped. He never left the building. At night he slept on the couch in the teachers' lounge on the twelfth floor.

Some days it seemed hopeless. The worst part was the smell. He often had to run and stick his head out a window to get a breath of fresh air. But whenever he felt like quitting, he thought about those poor kids, stuck in those horrible schools, and he just worked harder.

And at last, two hundred and forty-three days later, the school was ready to open.

Well, almost ready. There was one little problem.

Suddenly, from somewhere inside the building, or maybe just inside his head, Louis heard a loud "moo."

He put his hands over his ears and said, "I don't hear it, I don't hear it, I don't hear it," until the mooing stopped.

He had scrubbed and polished every inch ofWayside School. There were no cows anywhere. He was sure of it! Still, every once in a while, he heard something go "moo." Or at least he thought he did.

He took the sign off the door.

But before you enter, you should know something about Wayside School.

Wayside School is a thirty-story building with one room on each floor, except there is no nineteenth story.

Mrs. Jewls teaches the class on the thirtieth story.

Miss Zarves teaches the class on the nineteenth story. There is no Miss Zarves.

Understand?

Good; explain it to me.

"Louis!" someone shouted.

He turned to see a red and blue overcoat running toward him. "Hi, Sharie!" he said. He couldn't see her face, but he knew she had to be somewhere inside the coat.

Sharie jumped into his arms.

"I bet you're glad to be back," said Louis.

"You bet!" said Sharie. "Now I can finally get some sleep!"

All around the playground, old friends were getting back together.

"Hi, old pal!" said John.

"Hey, good buddy," said Joe.

"Bebe!" yelled Calvin from one side of the playground

"Calvin!" shouted Bebe from the other.They ran and smashed into each other.

"Hi, Eric, good to see you," said Eric."Hey, good to see you too," said Eric.

"Oh, look. There's Eric!""Hi, Eric! Hi, Eric!""Hi, Eric.""Hi, Eric."

Even Kathy said hello to everybody.

"Hey, Big Ears!" she said to Myron as she slapped him on the back. "What's happ'nin', Smelly?" she asked Dameon. "You didn't take a bath for two hundred and forty-three days, did you? Hi, Allison. Did you get uglier while you were away, or were you always this ugly and I just forgot?"

"That's a nice sweater, Kathy," said Allison, who always tried to say something nice.

Kathy moved on to Terrence. "I'm sure glad to see you, Terrence!" she said.

"You are?" asked Terrence.

"Yes," said Kathy. "I thought you'd be in jail by now."

Todd came running across the playground.

"Hi, Todd!" shouted Sharie, right in Louis's ear.

Todd kept running.

"Hey, Todd!" called Jason. "Good to see you!

"Hi, Todd!" called Myron and D.J.

But Todd didn't answer. He just kept running until he reached the school building.

Then he kissed Wayside School.

Out of all the schools, Todd had been sent to the very worst one. It was awful! The first thing he had to do every morning was --

Wait a second. I don't have to tell you. You already know.

Todd was sent to your school.