by Louis Sachar
First published 1985
The builder made a spectacular mistake. Instead of constructing Wayside School as thirty classrooms side by side, he stacked them thirty stories high. Now strange things happen daily, especially on the top floor. Students like John can only read upside down. Todd gets sent home before lunch every single day. Mrs. Gorf terrorizes her class as the cruelest teacher in the building. The kids navigate their vertical school while dealing with peculiar problems that seem normal only at Wayside. Each floor brings new oddities and characters. Sammy arrives as the mysterious new student, but something unusual hides beneath his ordinary appearance. Halloween approaches with special surprises planned for the sideways school. The students must figure out how to survive their upside down education in a place where the impossible becomes routine.
Genres: fiction, fantasy, comedy
Vibes: thought-provoking, whimsical
Tropes: found-family, quirky-characters
Setting: Wayside School
Period: 20th-century
124 pages · Paperback · Avon Books