Sideways Stories from Wayside School

“The children on the thirtieth story […] hadn’t had a teacher for three days. They were afraid of what their new teacher would be like. They’d heard she’d be a terribly nice teacher. They were terribly afraid of nice teachers.”

The use of the word “terribly” echoes “terrible,” briefly suggesting that Mrs. Jewls will be mean. This word play develops the nonsensical mood of the book, as the opposite of what is expected to be true is often the case. From the onset, Sachar subverts the reader’s expectations of “normal” and establishes the Wayside world, where students fear a nice teacher rather than a mean one. Ironically, because they have just rid themselves of mean Mrs. Gorf, the students should have nothing to fear anymore. The students’ “backward” thinking develops the theme of Absurdity Versus Reality.

“‘Counting is easy,’ said Maurecia.

‘Now, now,’ said Mrs. Jewls. ‘What’s easy for you may not be easy for Joe, and what’s easy for Joe may not be easy for you.’”

Although Mrs. Jewls is quirky and often expresses backward logic, she does impart wise lessons to her students. This empathetic truism is one that can benefit students of all ages. Despite Maurecia’s jibes, Joe does not give up and is eventually able to succeed with Mrs. Jewls’s support.

“‘No,’ said Mrs. Jewls. ‘That isn’t how you measure art. It isn’t about how many pictures you have, but how good the pictures are. Why, a person could spend his whole life just drawing one picture of a cat.’”

Sachar develops the theme of Problem Solving and Learning by presenting solutions or resolutions that have multiple interpretations. On one hand, Mrs. Jewls seeks to teach students to work hard, even in the event that something may not come easily to them.