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Jan 06, 2008

Chris rated it:

If you want to see exactly what rests at the center of someone’s soul, don’t bother reading a 200-page biography on them; ask them what was the first book ever to make an impression on them that lasted into their adulthood. For some it might be some garbage about a brat named Ramona and her ginger-kid friends, and these people embrace a passion for whimsy and camaraderie. Others have a deep-rooted sense of ‘self’ from cherishing the trails and tribulations of some chick named Margaret menstrua More...

6 comments like (28 people liked it)

Jun 10, 2007

Blanca rated it:

Louis Sachar was unwittingly my primer for my love of absurdist and magical realism literature. In my 5th grade English class, we read this book and I remember there was nothing we were more collectively excited about except maybe that mock presidential campaign where Michael Dukakis won by a landslide in the halls of George Washington Carver- Anson Jones Elementary, if nowhere else in the country. Our enthusiasm for the wacky capers of the students and the yard teacher inspired a class project More...

1 comment like (3 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2012

Emily rated it:

I was only half-way interested in reading this book out loud to my son, who received it as an end of year gift from his second grade teacher. I expected it to be kind of dumb because I knew it was meant to be "funny", and my idea of funny doesn't always overlap with a seven-year-old's. But we tried it for lack of other reading material at hand, and it turned out I was captivated by the oddness of it. The stories, 30 of them, to match the 30 stories of Wayside School (which was accid More...

7 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 02, 2007

aisha rated it:

HOLY CRAP THIS BOOK IS SO GREAT.

unbelievably great. it cracks me up regulary ("take a train, peanut brain!" being one of my favorite lines). children's books are fantastic bedtime readings - they are usually short, relatively simple, and - in the case of the whole wayside collection - ridiculously entertaining and clever. i fear the day this becomes a film (unless my college roommate writes and directs it) because all of the kids are such unique and well developed character More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 23, 2009

Elizabeth rated it:

I remember loving this book at some point during my childhood. Re-reading it as an adult confirms that I was a very strange child. What an awesomely weird book! Teachers turning into apples and being eaten by recess monitors! Dead rats in raincoats passing as ornery new students!

One particularly bizarre, hilarious passage:

"In Mrs. Jewls' class there were three children named Eric: Eric Fry, Eric Bacon, and Eric Ovens. They were known throughout the school for being f More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 08, 2008

Chris rated it:

My kids and I just finished reading this book aloud one story a night. The humorous stories and ridiculous situations entertained all three kids (aged 4 through 8) and I found myself laughing aloud with them ad the adventures of the kids on the 30th story.

Characters
Each story focuses primarily on a different character so trying to lump all of the characters together into a single review category is difficult. The two character persistent throughout the book, Mrs. Jewls and Lo More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 16, 2009

Destinee rated it:

I'm rereading this for the first time since elementary school, and I gotta say, I'm really blown away by the sheer absurdity of it. It reminds me of James Marshall's George and Martha stories: absurd, but lovely in that they never apologize for being absurd or wink at you from beneath the absurdity. It's just absurd all the way down, sincerely and deeply absurd. I imagine after you graduate from George and Martha, you move on to Wayside, and from there you're ready for Beckett and Camus.

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Nov 15, 2011

Bluerose's rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Oct 31, 2011

lprater rated it:

Popular Series: I found this fun, easy to read book about a people attending and working in a school with classroom stacked one one top of the each other enjoyable. I love the structure of the book, with each chapter focusing on one student or teacher. This format provides a great platform for class discussions on characters. I thought the author cleverly began the book with the mean classroom teacher, Mrs. Gorf(frog spelled backward), turning herself into an apple and then replaced by Ms. Jewl More...

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Sep 05, 2011

Jenny rated it:

Oh Louis Sachar you are such a gifted children’s writer. I’ve loved all of your books (from the social injustice of Holes to the touching There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom). But the Wayside School books will always have a special place in my heart as the funniest and goofiest. Sachar uses a lot of puns, wordplay, and zany situations and that’s probably why as an adult my most favorite type of humor is irony with a little bit of absurdity. Here is a taste:

“Dana had four beautiful eye More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 01, 2009

LizG rated it:

This is a kids books that adults won't mind reading to young ones at bedtime (5+). Lighthearted and a bit wacky, it's about students in a school that was supposed to be 30 classrooms all on one level, but the builder made a mistake and stacked each classroom one on top of the other. It only gets weirder from there.

Note: There is no 19th story. Period.

I may just pick up a copy for my niece or nephew this Christmas, since I never like to get them the stuff everyone else ha More...

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Jan 07, 2011

Ben rated it:

Ben Davis January 6, 2011

Sideways Stories of Wayside School

I like this book because each chapter had a different characters story. Why it is called Sideways Stories of Wayside School is because when the workers built the school they made a big mistake. Instead of building a flat 30 classroom school, the workers made the mistake of building it 30 stories high with More...

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Dec 16, 2009

Colleen rated it:

This is absolutely the most perfect book I have ever read for this age group. Brilliant, hysterical, and seemingly simplistic, the book is anything but. I was shocked re-reading it as an adult how stunningly original all the small stories that make up this book are. If you haven't read it since you were young, I INSIST you pick it up again. The best in the bunch: icecream flavored like kids and the invisible note for the invisible teacher on the invisible floor.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Sep 09, 2011

Jed rated it:

I picked up this book again because I was reminded of it while reading Catch-22. Sideways stories was one of my favorite books growing up as a kid and I think it set me up to enjoy Catch-22 as well. Sideways Stories is eccentrically funny, but also surprisingly deep in symbolism and metaphor. The premise of the book is a school built sideways--that is 30 stories high instead of 30 classrooms longs. There are 30 chapters and each chapter is about a certain character. Some of these chapters are ju More...

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Jul 11, 2011

Tiffany rated it:

Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar is one of my favorite children's books.
Wayside School is a silly school that holds thirty classrooms, thirty stories high. The students in Mrs. Jewls class are on the thirtieth story. I love the kids in the class, but my favorite story is Mrs. Gorf. She is an evil teacher that hates children and turns them into apples. Everyone thinks she is a wonderful teacher because she always has so many apples on her desk. Everyone More...

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Feb 17, 2010

Ch_hayley rated it:

I remember reading Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories from Wayside School when I was younger. However, there have been modifications to the series in recent years. The Sideways series is a favorite of some of my high reading second graders. The Wayside School was supposed to be one story high, with 30 classrooms side by side; instead, it was built sideways, with 30 one-classroom stories. The cast of characters and the events that occur are sure to provide some giggles as well as confusions to non-a More...

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May 07, 2008

Myla rated it:

I'm not sure that I loved this book as much as my kids did. The chapters were short (which was a bonus) but the stories were a little bizarre (which my kids loved). I glossed over the parts where kids were mean to each other or called each other names - I'm just not ready for my preschoolers to start that yet! But it was fun and like I said, the kids loved it.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 08, 2009

Shel added it

Sachar, L. (1978). Sideways Stories from Wayside School. New York: Avon Books.

0380698714

This is the first book in Sachar’s famous and much loved Wayside School series. While not lacking action, each chapter presents itself as a character sketch of the students and teachers on the 30th floor of Wayside School, which was accidentally built up vertically instead of the planned horizontally. Sachar (pronounced Sack-er) actually included himself as a character, Louis the yard More...

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Sep 05, 2007

Matt rated it:

This is the book that taught me that humor doesn't always have to follow the rules. The absurdism absolutely flavored all my daydreams from then on. All in all, it's actually a painfully short book and it's so weird that it makes one's brian stumble a bit at places. I guess that's what's great about it.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 17, 2011

Shannon rated it:

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 More...

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Jun 05, 2011

Diane rated it:

This book is about a group of children that attend a school that was supposed to be one story high, with 30 classrooms side by side. Instead it was built sideways, with 30 stories and only 1 classroom on each story. Each chapter in this book is about a student in Mrs. Jewls' class, the class on the thirtieth story. Each student has a strange, but funny story to tell whether it be that they are addicted to pulling pigtails, can only read when standing on their head, or that they must ride home More...

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Apr 25, 2009

Mr rated it:

Amy Brantner, 118 pages. This book is the first in a series called Wayside School. This book is introducing all the children on the 30th story, and some of the teachers at this wacky school. Let me tell you, this is a weird place. It is a school with thirty stories, and one classroom on each story. Miss Zarves’s class is on the 19th story. There is no Miss Zarves, there is no 19th story. There is also Miss Mush, the school cook. The meals she prepare are so gross, the only thing kids feel safe t More...

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May 11, 2009

Sarah rated it:

I read this book when I was in elementary school and found it pretty weird then. I found it equally weird as an adult. The book is broken down into 30 short chapters about the students in the class on the 30th floor of Wayside School. The humor is very unique, for example when one student can't read unless he turns the book upside down the teacher remonstrates him. "'John, you can't go on reading like this, what happens when I write something on the blackboard? You can't turn the blackbo More...

3 comments like

Mar 01, 2009

Kristin rated it:

I absolutely adored this book as a kid. I thought it was hysterical and different from most of the books my teachers read to us. I re-read this as I'm going to be reading books to some classrooms tomorrow for reading day and I was a little disappointed that it wasn't nearly as good as I remember. Well, I think it's just the whole nothing is as good or big or impressive as you remember it when a child. Still a fun read with little lessons for kids that aren't shoved down their throats. I lov More...

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Jul 20, 2011

Ειρήνη Κασσάνδρα (Irene) rated it:

Just finish it in one day. The story was really fun and wacky and well... easy to read. Every characters are well developed and had different interesting characters.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Never mind :)

7 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 01, 2008

Brandon rated it:

I read this book or some other wayside school book, there are a couple I believe, when I was in third or fourth grade. I really enjoyed them. It was fun books like this one that originaly peaked my interest in reading.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 05, 2012

Johnny rated it:

I read this to my daughter because it was a childhood favorite of mine. I remember Sachar coming to my elementary school for a visit; I sat in awe that a real live author was reading to us from a real book! Revisiting it twenty five years later though was a little sad. It's still a great book, but my it's a bit dated. It definitely reads like a children's book from the 80s: there is a liberal use of what we refer to as "potty words" in my house and there is even one chapter where c More...

1 comment like

Jan 05, 2012

Mr. Woodnal rated it:

I read this to my daughter because it was a childhood favorite of mine. I remember Sachar coming to my elementary school for a visit; I sat in awe that a real live author was reading to us from a real book! Revisiting it twenty five years later though was a little sad. It's still a great book, but my it's a bit dated. It definitely reads like a children's book from the 80s: there is a liberal use of what we refer to as "potty words" in my house and there is even one chapter where c More...

0 comments like

Oct 23, 2011

Gayle rated it:

My girls give this book 5 stars. They thought it was hilarious. I enjoyed it too -- there were many parts that had all of us just giggling like crazy. A few parts had Hayley laughing as hard as I've ever heard her laugh before. And McKay even listened in on a few nights and was equally entranced with the crazy kids and humor in this book. I'd probably give it more of 4.5 stars myself only for the fact that it's a bit dated in some of its "political correctness" -- i.e. there's a fair a More...

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Sep 07, 2011

Kara rated it:

I would use this wacky book in my classroom to show reading is not boring. This book is funny and very unique. I would use this book as a reward. If they get their assignment done early, etc, I will read pages out of this book. I want students to find reading as a reward than a punishment and this book would be a great way to enforce that.
I also could use this book when we try to get to know each other as a class. In this book, each chapter introduces a new character. This would be a good More...

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