THE WAYSIDE SCHOOL COLLECTION Sideways Stories From Wayside School, Wayside School Is Falling Down, Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger

This set encompasses three volumes of short stories, written over several decades. Sachar reads tales ranging from hilarious to ridiculous, zany, shaggy, and just plain odd. Most are set in Wayside School, a strange place in itself, being 30 floors tall with just one room per floor. While the cast of characters remains the same, each story focuses on a different child or teacher. The first title, SIDEWAYS STORIES FROM WAYSIDE SCHOOL, is by far the funniest as the quirks of specific children and teachers are dealt with in ingenious and clever ways. Sachar's deliberately paced reading is sometimes gravelly and awkward, a style that, perhaps, is meant to appeal to the middle school listeners who love these books. R.H.H. © AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine [Published: MARCH 2009]