Synopses & Reviews
Strange Strangers Come to Wayside School...Welcome back to Wayside School! After closing for 242 days to get rid of the cows (don't ask), everyone's favorite thirty-story school is finally back in session.
But all is not well at the school with no nineteenth floor. Mrs. Jewls, the best teacher at Wayside, is having a baby, and that can mean only one thing--substitute teachers.
First comes Mr. Gorf. Was he married to the terrible Mrs. Gorf? And why does he have three nostrils? The kids won't tell you. They're not talking.
Then there's Mrs. Drazil. She never forgets a missed homework assignment, not even one that Louis the yard teacher owed her fifteen years ago.
By the time the class gets the fearsome Miss Nogard, the kids can't wait for everything to return to normal.
Wayside School may seem like a pretty strange place already, but now it has to get a little stranger."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....Contains hilarity, malevolence, romance, relentless punning,goofiness, inspiration, revenge, and poignancy."--School Library Journal.
Synopsis
Bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar knows how to make readers laugh. And there are laughs galore in perennial favorite Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger
Before you enter Wayside School, you should know that it's a thirty-story building with one classroom on each floor. Mrs. Jewls teaches the class on the thirtieth story. Miss Zarves teaches the class on the nineteenth story--except there is no nineteenth story, so there is no Miss Zarves.
Understand? Good. Explain it to Calvin.
More than nine millions readers have laughed at the wacky stories of Wayside School. So what are you waiting for? Come visit Wayside School
Synopsis
Bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar knows how to make readers laugh. And there are laughs galore in perennial favorite Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger This early middle grade novel is an excellent choice for tween readers in grades 3 to 5, especially during homeschooling. It's a fun way to keep your child entertained and engaged while not in the classroom.
Before you enter Wayside School, you should know that it's a thirty-story building with one classroom on each floor. Mrs. Jewls teaches the class on the thirtieth story. Miss Zarves teaches the class on the nineteenth story--except there is no nineteenth story, so there is no Miss Zarves.
Understand? Good. Explain it to Calvin.
And get ready for Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom, the brand-new, fourth installment in the series, and the first in twenty-five years
More than fifteen million readers have laughed at the clever and hilarious stories of Wayside School. So what are you waiting for? Come visit Wayside School
Synopsis
Strange Strangers Come to Wayside School . . .
Welcome back to Wayside School! After closing for 242 days to get rid of the cows (don't ask), everyone's favorite thirty-story school is finally back in session.
But all is not well at the school with no nineteenth floor. Mrs. Jewls, the best teacher at Wayside, is having a baby, and that can mean only one thing -- substitute teachers.
First comes Mr. Gorf. Was he married to the terrible Mrs. Gorf? And why does he have three nostrils? The kids won't tell you. They're not talking.
Then there's Mrs. Drazil. She never forgets a missed homework assignment, not even one that Louis the yard teacher owed her fifteen years ago.
By the time the class gets the fearsome Miss Nogard, the kids can't wait for everything to return to normal.
Wayside School may seem like a pretty strange place already, but now it has to get a little stranger.
About the Author
When Louis Sachar was going to school, his teachers always pronounced his name wrong. Now that he has become a popular author of children’s books, teachers all over the country are pronouncing his name wrong. It should be pronounced “Sacker,”like someone who tackles quarterbacks or someone who stuffs potatoes into sacks.
Mr. Sachar received a B.A. in economics from the University of California at Berkeley. His first book, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, was accepted for publication during his first year of law school. After receiving his law degree, he spent six years asking himself whether he wanted to be an author or a lawyer before deciding to write for children full-time. His books include Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger, There’s a Boy in the Girls’Bathroom, Wayside School is Falling Down, Dogs Don’t Tell Jokes, and the Marvin Redpost series.
Louis Sachar lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife and their daughter, Sherre.
In His Own Words...
"One thing I would like to know from my favorite authors is who their favorite authors are. So I will begin there. My favorite authors (not necessarily in order) are: E. L. Doctorow; J. D. Salinger; Kurt Vonnegut; Dostoyevski; Tolstoy; Flannery O'Connor; Kinky Friedman; Rex Stout; E. B. White; William Saroyan; John Steinbeck; Dr. Seuss. These are mostly adult authors, which is only fitting, since I am mostly an adult."
"I was born in East Meadow, New York. My father worked on the seventy-eighth floor of the Empire State Building, which I thought was pretty cool. We moved to Tustin, California, when I was nine, not too far from Disneyland."
"I wrote my first children's story as part of a creative writing assignment in high school. That story was called "Apple Power" and was about a mean teacher named Mrs. Gorf who turned her students into apples. My teacher didn't think that I had taken the assignment seriously and suggested I write something else."
"During my last year of college at the University of California at Berkeley, I worked part-time at a nearby elementary school -- Hillside School. I got college credit for being a teacher's aide, and I was paid two dollars an hour to watch over the kids on the playground. My official title was Noontime Supervisor, but the kids called me Louis the yard teacher."
"After graduating from college I wrote Sideways Stories from Wayside School. The kids in the book are named after the kids I knew at Hillside, and, of course, Louis the yard teacher is in there, too."
"I went to law school in San Francisco a year later, and the book was published during my second year. When I graduated in 1980, I had to make the difficult choice between writing and practicing law. I knew I could make a good living practicing law, but I chose to write because it was what I liked to do."
"I met Carla in 1981 while visiting a school in Texas. She was the school counselor and became the inspiration behind the character (also a counselor named Carla) in There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. When I wrote the book, I didn't know I'd end up marrying her."
"We were married in 1985, and our daughter, Sherre, was horn in 1987. In 1990 we moved from San Francisco to Austin, Texas. We have a dog named Lucky. In my spare time I like to play duplicate bridge."
Kids Q&A
Read the Kids' Q&A with Louis Sachar