Sideways stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

Bizarrely, the Wayside school was incorrectly built, and instead of being a 30-classroom single-storey school, it is a 30-storey school with a single class on each floor. This book is a tribute to the craziness of school, and the weirdness of school children and is filled with 30 stories (apart from the absent 19th story to match the absent 19th storey). Louis Sachar has a wacky sense of humour that borders on ridiculous… actually it is totally in the land of ridiculous. The 30 stories that inhabit the Wayside School poke fun at teachers and students and sometimes have twists in the tail… or is that tale!

For young readers this book will tickle their funny bones and cause giggles to erupt at odd times. It would also be a fun book to share as a read-aloud in class or with an adult at bed-time.  Just don’t expect that every story makes logical sense or that it is filled with wisdom.  In fact, it is more likely you will find quirky eccentricity and folly on every page.

Themes: Humour, School.

Carolyn Hull