My son and I read this book and very much enjoyed it.
Characters were many and sometimes hard to differentiate between, but they were still fun and enjoyable. Setting made me need a drink of water all the time. But what I most enjoyed was the plot and flashbacks that were present to help enlighten the reader as to what was actually going on. Miss Katherine and Sam were my favorite and I really felt for them. And you feel sorry for Stanley and Zero and all the other boys.
Wayside School is a school that was built vertically instead of horizontally, like most schools are. At the top of the school on the 30th floor is Mrs. Jewls class with a very interesting assortment of children--as there are in most elementary school classes. These are their silly, punny adventures and the fears that come to life for so many elementary school kids. No one eats the lunch ladies food because it might do things to you, everyone in class keeps calling you the wrong name and you don't have the courage to correct them, picture day and looking weird in a suit, the scary basement in the building, the room/floor that doesn't exist, and that your school might fall down in all the natural disasters you can think of.
Simply written with a whole cast of characters, this is one that early elementary school kids will enjoy without a doubt, and older kids (ie. adults) can reminisce too.
I really liked how when we were introduced to someone they weren't just forgotten once "their chapter" was done. Instances and people were reapplied to the story and their quirks helped us remember who they were and the story they belonged in. Even Mrs. Jewls got her chapter, which made my son and I laugh.
Great simple stories with a light dose of pun that probably escaped me when I was younger, so it was a great read now that I'm not in the second grade. ;)
