Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom
by Louis Sachar
illustrated by Tim Heitz
Harper, 2020. 182 pages.
Review written March 21, 2020, from a library book
This book is high class silliness. It’s been 40 years since Louis Sachar wrote a book about Wayside School. Side note: It’s interesting to me that they list three Wayside School books in the front and Louis Sachar acknowledges three in the Intro, but my absolute favorite, and, okay, probably the only one I was really interested in enough to read, is not mentioned — Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School. That one’s essentially a puzzle book, but still, it’s my favorite! Must it be completely forgotten?
My kids loved the Wayside School books back in the day. Now they are 32 and 25 years old. To be honest, I enjoyed hearing my kids tell me about them, and bought them copies, but aside from Sideways Arithmetic, I was never interested enough to read an entire book. Until now. (And to be fair, then I wasn’t yet a children’s librarian.)
This is not a book for people who look for logical consistencies or think about actual consequences of proposed magical happenings. It isn’t a book for people who will point out that you couldn’t possibly collect a million toenail and fingernail clippings in a few months. That describes me, so I’m simply not the true audience for these books. However, I managed to suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy this and have fun. The stuff that happens is silly, but it’s silly in a light-hearted and clever way.
We’re back in Mrs. Jewls’ class on the thirtieth floor. Wayside School is still built sideways, with one room on each floor. I don’t know if any of the students have reappeared from earlier books or if we’ve got a new crop. I’m pretty sure that order doesn’t matter in this series. In this book, a Cloud of Doom settles over the school and disrupts things.
But along the way, you have things like a cure for Oppositosis, hoarding paper clips, a face that gets “stuck like that,” and a kid trying to read the longest book ever. I do like the way sillinesses from one chapter come back in others.
My favorite part, though, is the description of the librarian:
Mrs. Surlaw smiled when she heard that. The only thing she loved more than books were children who loved books. She may have seemed severe on the outside, but inside, her heart was soft as a pillow.
I’m excited that a new generation of kids is going to discover Wayside School. These books explore what might happen if your school were a very silly and strange place. And what kid can resist thinking about that?
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Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.
Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.
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*Note* To try to catch up on posting reviews, I’m posting the oldest reviews I’ve written on my blog without making a page on my main website. They’re still good books.