Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

April 24, 1995
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.

April 1, 1995
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