Excerpt from the Introduction:
“This book contains thirty stories about the children and teachers at Wayside School. . . It has been said that these stories are strange and silly. That is probably true. However, when I told stories about you to the children at Wayside, they thought you were strange and silly. That is probably also true.”
Once you crack open this book and read the first story, you start to get a good idea of the humor of Louis Sachar. Highly regarded for his Newbery medal-winning book “Holes,” Sachar also wrote a series of books about Wayside School, which are high-larious, if you ask me.
When I reached this book on my list, I decided to read it out loud with my husband, which turned out to be a great idea. He was decently excited about the book being on the list, and he has a great sense of humor. As we took turns reading each story, I noticed that he laughed a lot more than I did. Each time he laughed and I didn’t, I re-read what we had just read and realized that yes, in fact, it was funny. As weird as this may sound, I was saddened. There were obvious hilarities in the story that didn’t register with me naturally. This has brought me to the conclusion that I am a very serious person. Friends and relatives have told me this my whole life, but I guess I never quite came to grips with the fact. So thanks to Louis Sachar, my husband and this reading challenge for helping me have more fun.
Sideways Stories from Wayside School
by Louis Sachar
Originally published in 1978
Also, keep looking here later in the year for this award-winning author’s book Holes, which makes an appearance much higher on the Top 100 list.
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