The Wayside School Books
In a moment of nostalgia this weekend some very fond memories of childhood literature came to memory. I noticed that they recently turned it into a television show in Nickelodeon.
(I died a little at hearing that).
I suppose these books stick out in my mind not necessarily because they were representative of my elementary school experience or the fact that the last book came out while I was in fourth grade, but rather because they were the type of escape I wanted as a kid. My childhood was nothing to escape. My parents were loving, I had a few close friends, and school was somewhat engaging at that point in my life.
At this point in my life, I spent a lot of my time watching television and reading to fill in that extra time. Here are some of my favorite moments from this series of books about a school accidentally built 30-stories high:
- A disgusting school lunch being possessed by an evil, dead teacher.
- A boy constantly haunted by the temptation to pull on his best friend’s pigtails.
- A dead rat being mistaken for a student
- A substitute teacher stealing kids’ voices by sucking them through a mysterious third nostril.
- A pair of one-time use elevators
- Getting sent home on the kindergarten bus.
- Cows climbing up several flights of stairs.
- One of the students hating the reader.
- A student showing up dressed up for Halloween and realizing he’s the only one who has.
- A student getting trapped on a non-existent floor.
