40 Fun Facts About Sideways Stories From Wayside School

At Wayside School, Mrs. Gorf wiggles her ears and sticks out her tongue to turn students into what?

Apples piled up on Mrs. Gorf's desk, so a visitor assumed the children adored her. She ended up as one herself and was eaten.

At Wayside School, which object does Jenny hold up so that Mrs. Gorf's spell lands on the teacher herself?

A mirror turned Mrs. Gorf's own magic back on her, and Louis, not knowing what had happened, polished her on his shirt and ate her.

Which story of Wayside School was never built, so that its teacher and her class do not exist either?

The nineteenth story is missing, so the book's chapter with that number is missing too, with an apology printed in its place.

At Wayside School, new teacher Mrs. Jewls thinks her pupils are so cute they must be which animals?

Monkeys were her first guess, because she had never seen children so cute. The class rather preferred being treated that way.

At Wayside School, what is the rude new pupil Sammy revealed to be beneath his many smelly raincoats?

A dead rat was all that remained once the coats came off, and Mrs. Jewls threw it away. It was the third to try sneaking into her class since September.

Three boys in Mrs. Jewls's class at Wayside School share which first name and get unfair nicknames for it?

Eric is the name of three classmates, surnamed Bacon, Fry and Ovens, and each is teased for a fault that only the other two have.

At Wayside School, which treat does Maurecia eat for lunch every day until she has tried every flavor?

Ice cream bores Maurecia once no new flavors are left, so Mrs. Jewls invents one named after each pupil in the class.

At Wayside School, what does Paul keep tugging until Leslie yells and his name goes on the board?

Her pigtails tempt Paul so much that he imagines one of them talking to him, and he is sent home after her third yell.

At Wayside School, round-headed John has a reading problem: he can only read words turned which way?

Upside down was the only way John could read until a fall while standing on his head flipped his brain the right way.

Which Newbery Medal winner, later a Disney film, is by the author of Sideways Stories from Wayside School?

Holes won the 1999 Newbery Medal, and Louis Sachar wrote the screenplay for the film himself, even appearing briefly on screen.

At Wayside School, Rondi loses her temper with Louis after he compliments which things she does not have?

Her front teeth are missing, and people keep admiring the gap, which baffles Rondi until one compliment too many makes her snap.

At Wayside School, Stephen alone dresses up for a class party held on the Friday before which holiday?

Halloween fell on a Sunday that year, so Stephen reasoned it should be marked on the Friday. Mrs. Gorf's ghost turned up, agreed with him, and vanished when he hugged her.

What is the job of Louis at Wayside School, a role author Louis Sachar once held at a real school?

Yard teacher was what pupils called Louis Sachar when he supervised their lunchtime play, and the final chapter reveals his namesake wrote the book.

Mrs. Jewls's classroom sits on which story of Wayside School, the highest in the building?

The thirtieth story tops a school built with one classroom per floor, after the builder stacked rooms that were meant to sit in a row.

At Wayside School, a pupil whose name Mrs. Jewls circles on the board is sent home early on what?

The kindergarten bus leaves at noon, and one well-behaved boy ends up riding it home every single day on a third strike.

At Wayside School, Jenny arrives late to find an empty classroom and strange men because it is which day?

Saturday was why nobody else had come, and the men with an attaché case questioned Jenny before warning her not to do it again.

At Wayside School, Myron is given which job, whose only duty is turning the classroom lights on and off?

Class president sounded grander than flicking a switch, and Myron lost the title after one day, arriving late the morning after he saved a dog.

At Wayside School, Louis refuses to watch a class film about which animals because they are too slow?

Turtles were the subject of the film, and Dameon missed all of it running up and down the stairs to answer Louis's questions about it.

Which well-behaved boy in Mrs. Jewls's class at Wayside School is punished daily and once outwits robbers?

Todd hands the robbers a classmate's workbook instead of money, gets a standing ovation, and is still sent home early.

Which curly-haired boy at Wayside School counts in the wrong order yet always lands on the right answer?

Joe wakes up one morning suddenly able to count properly, and celebrates by counting every hair on his head.

Which pupil at Wayside School sleeps through lessons in a huge coat and once tumbles out of the window?

Sharie is left to doze because Mrs. Jewls believes children learn best asleep, and Louis saves her at the last moment.

At Wayside School, Mrs. Jewls tells Bebe Gunn that quality matters more than speed in which activity?

Drawing is Bebe's gift: she turns out hundreds of pictures in an hour, then goes home to start one cat she expects to have barely begun by morning.

At Wayside School, Mrs. Jewls stops which of Dana's itchy troubles by turning them into arithmetic problems?

Mosquito bites covered Dana so badly she could not concentrate, until treating them as numbers in sums made the itching stop.

At Wayside School, Jason is stuck to his chair by chewing gum until what finally frees him?

A kiss on the nose from the girl who put the gum there makes Jason fall off his seat, and it saves her from being sent home.

At Wayside School, what does Leslie try to sell Louis for five cents each because she finds them useless?

Her toes stay unsold: Louis haggles the price down for the small ones, and Leslie refuses to break up the set.

At Wayside School, small-footed Ron wants to join which playground game that nobody will play with him?

Kickball finally happens when Louis teams up with Ron against the whole class. When Louis scolds his weak kicking, Ron's punch proves far harder than his kick.

At Wayside School, a shy boy embarrassed by his girlish name swaps it for Mac; what was he called before?

Nancy went to a girl from another class who had hated being Mac, and soon the whole class was trading names in confusion.

Which teacher at Wayside School is said to teach on the story that was never built, so she is not there?

Miss Zarves gets a chapter that is not there either, and one boy is thanked for delivering her a note that was never written.

Louis of Wayside School, a character based on the author, has which feature in many colors?

A mustache of many colors marks out Louis, who is friends with every child at the school and turns out to be the storyteller.

Robbers burst into Mrs. Jewls's classroom at Wayside School because they mistook the building for what?

A bank was what they expected, and they leave with nothing but a pupil's workbook, handed over by a quick-thinking boy.

Which Wayside School boy is sent by Mrs. Jewls to hand an unwritten note to a teacher who is not there?

Calvin asks Louis for help, gets nowhere, and returns upstairs only to be thanked by Mrs. Jewls for a delivery he never made.

At Wayside School, what weather cancels recess in the last chapter, so Louis tells the class a story?

A blizzard in June keeps everyone indoors, and Louis fills the time with a tale about a school where nothing strange ever happens.

Which shape does Mrs. Jewls of Wayside School add around Sammy's circled name as a fourth strike?

A triangle went around the circle as a fourth penalty the rules never mention, because the newcomer kept insulting everyone.

Louis Sachar wrote Sideways Stories from Wayside School at night after days in a warehouse stocked with what?

Sweaters filled the Connecticut warehouse where he worked for the nine months the book took, until he was fired.

Pupils in Sideways Stories from Wayside School are named after children the author met at which real school?

Hillside Elementary in California is where Louis Sachar earned college credit as a classroom helper, a job he called life-changing.

At Wayside School, Deedee races down to recess hoping for a high-bouncing ball of which color?

Green balls bounce highest and red ones are passable, but Deedee always ends up with the lone yellow one, which never goes where it is kicked.

At Wayside School, which candy does Mrs. Jewls keep in a can on her desk to reward pupils?

Tootsie Roll Pops are her standard prize, and one pupil who has just stolen a lunch helps herself to a second when nobody is looking.

Wayside, the Canadian cartoon based on Sideways Stories from Wayside School, aired on which US channel?

Nickelodeon showed the cartoon to American viewers, while Canada's Teletoon ordered two seasons after an hour-long pilot film in 2005.

Which pupil at Wayside School dislikes everybody she knows, and the reader too, without having met them?

Kathy proves herself right every time: sure her cat will run away, she locks it in a closet, and it bolts.

Louis Sachar was training for which profession when Sideways Stories from Wayside School found a publisher?

Lawyer was the plan after he lost a warehouse job; he graduated in 1980 and did legal work part-time while writing more children's books.