40 Fun Facts About Wayside School is Falling Down

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what is in the heavy package Louis carries up to Mrs. Jewls's class?

A computer is in the box, and Mrs. Jewls pushes it straight out of the window to show her class how gravity works.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what name does the class wrongly call new student Benjamin Nushmutt?

Mark Miller is the name everyone uses, and Benjamin is too shy to correct them, so he starts to think it suits him better than his own.

At the end of Wayside School Is Falling Down, which animals fill the building and force it to close?

Cows pour into the school after Mrs. Jewls rings her cowbell so hard during a storm that the sound carries to a whole herd.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what picture does Calvin choose for the birthday tattoo on his ankle?

A potato is his pick, and although nobody else approves, Calvin decides he is the one who has to live with it.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what does Mrs. Jewls say Stephen must wear if he wants to look important?

Expensive underpants is her answer, because she tells him that it is what a person wears underneath that really counts.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what does Dameon leave in Mrs. Jewls's desk to prove he doesn't love her?

A dead rat goes into the desk on a dare, yet Mrs. Jewls forgives him and says love is the one thing she has more of after giving it away.

Miss Zarves teaches on which story of Wayside School, the one the builder is said to have left out?

The nineteenth story does not exist, so the three chapters set there all carry the same chapter number instead of counting upwards.

How does Mrs. Jewls stop Jason from chewing pencils in Wayside School Is Falling Down?

She tapes his mouth shut, then likes the quiet so much that she wonders about doing the same to the whole class.

What is unusual about the chapter of Wayside School Is Falling Down in which Jenny arrives late to class?

It is written backwards, matching the plot, in which Mrs. Jewls tells Jenny to read a story in reverse after she misses its beginning.

Which cafeteria lunch special at Wayside School makes Ron kiss a classmate after a single bite?

Mushroom Surprise had been the special for eighteen days running before Ron dared to try it, and he has no memory of the kiss afterwards.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what does Paul hold on to when he is hauled back in through the window?

Leslie's pigtails save his life, which amuses Paul because for once the hair he always longs to tug has pulled him instead.

Three mysterious men in the basement of Wayside School tell Myron to choose between safety and what?

Freedom is what Myron picks, so back in class he simply refuses to take a test, since nobody can make him any more.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, Todd's toy dog can transform into which fierce animal that bites a classmate?

A wolf is the toy's hidden second form, which a classmate who tries to use the toy for herself discovers when it bites her finger.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, which former teacher do the students keep claiming to spot around the playground?

Mrs. Gorf is the feared teacher from the first book, who turned children into apples until a mirror turned the spell back on her.

Which student in Wayside School Is Falling Down falls on the stairs and ends up in Miss Zarves's classroom?

Allison slowly forgets where she came from while she is there, and only gets away by copying her old classmates' most annoying habits.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, Mr. Kidswatter questions three students who all share which first name?

Eric is the name shared by Fry, Bacon and Ovens, which is why their single chapter is numbered 20, 21 and 22 all at once.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what punishment does Mrs. Jewls accept after a mean voice takes over her teaching?

Going home early on the kindergarten bus is the penalty she gives herself, the same one she hands any pupil who misbehaves three times.

Louis Sachar, author of Wayside School Is Falling Down, later won the Newbery Medal for which novel?

Holes won the Newbery Medal in 1999, and Sachar wrote the screenplay himself when Disney turned it into a film four years later.

Mrs. Jewls and her thirtieth-story class first appeared in which earlier Louis Sachar book?

Sideways Stories from Wayside School came out in 1978, eleven years before the sequel, and also holds exactly thirty tales.

What job does Louis do at Wayside School, a job author Louis Sachar once held at a real school?

Yard teacher was Sachar's own role as a college student, supervising lunchtime at Hillside Elementary, where the pupils knew him as Louis.

The title of Wayside School Is Falling Down comes from the favorite song of which student in Mrs. Jewls's class?

Kathy sings it to the tune of London Bridge Is Falling Down, which suits a girl known for disliking everybody she meets.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, where does Mac finally find the single sock he lost?

In his refrigerator, as Mac tells the class in a rambling story that derails Mrs. Jewls's lesson on fractions.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, which scientist does Bob the hobo say never wore socks either?

Albert Einstein is his example, and the class is so impressed that everyone takes off their socks before the weekly spelling test.

Which student in Wayside School Is Falling Down brings a hobo to class for show-and-tell?

Sharie is the tiny girl in the huge coat who usually sleeps through lessons, and Mrs. Jewls believes she learns best that way.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, Bebe blames rude homework notes on a made-up little brother called what?

Ray Gunn is exposed as a fib when Mrs. Jewls rings up to complain and Bebe's mother asks who he is.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, a substitute teacher reveals her first name is Benjamin; what is her surname?

Franklin is her surname, and the students, who had all pretended to be called Benjamin as a prank, no longer know what to believe.

In music class at Wayside School, what do pupils do whenever Benjamin Nushmutt is asked to speak up?

They play their instruments louder each time, so Benjamin gives up and decides his mistaken name makes better music anyway.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, why is D.J. so upset about losing his watch?

A bird might choke on it, he worries, which baffles the classmate who had been teasing him to make him feel worse.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, which breakfast drink does Jenny hate but reluctantly swallow before school?

Prune juice is the drink she detests, and by the end of her chapter it has come back up again.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, Rondi keeps her new front teeth because they help her eat which food?

Carrots settle it after a class vote on the teeth ends in a tie, and she ducks just in time to dodge a punch aimed at them.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, which grade does Miss Zarves give for every piece of work, right or wrong?

An A goes on everything in her class, which keeps her students content while they toil at pointless tasks for eleven hours at a stretch.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what does Miss Zarves tell her class to put into alphabetical order?

Numbers zero to a million must be sorted by their spelling, a dull task designed to leave her pupils no time to think.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, which pet of Jason's does he accidentally swallow in one strange scene?

A goldfish is the pet, yet it turns up alive and well later, when Jason proudly introduces it to the class.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, Mr. Kidswatter's clue to an insulting note is a card from which kind of business?

A barber shop appointment card carries the rude message, which is why he grills three boys about their haircuts and their pencils.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, which classmate does Rondi provoke, hoping he will knock out her new front teeth?

Terrence had stolen a ball, so Louis, who had just refused to knock her teeth out himself, sent Rondi over to demand it back.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, how do Joe and John defeat the living face sculpted from their lunch?

They eat it, discover the salad is tasty after all, and go back to the counter for a second helping.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, what does a suddenly mean Mrs. Jewls threaten to pour over a student?

Pickle brine is the threat, left over from her lesson on making pickles, but a classmate tips it over the teacher instead.

Which classmate steals and eats Maurecia's lunch in Wayside School Is Falling Down?

Joy takes the lunch, later owns up in the hope of a reward, and is handed nothing more than a single pencil.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, Mr. Finch saved the lost money that Maurecia hands in to open what?

An ice cream parlor was his dream through fifty years of making pencils, a job he hated, and Maurecia's honesty earns her a lifetime supply.

In Wayside School Is Falling Down, which dance does Mrs. Waloosh claim to teach by tossing students in the air?

The tango, in her version, means flinging each child skywards, and the bruised class still cannot wait for the next lesson.