Horn Book (Thu Nov 30 00:00:00 CST 2023)

One substitute teacher steals voices by sucking them through his three nostrils; another reads minds with a third ear hidden under her hair. No wonder the kids in the classroom on the thirtieth floor get anxious when their teacher, Mrs. Jewls, is on maternity leave in another pleasingly bizarre, clever glimpse into this topsy-turvy school.

Kirkus Reviews (Thu Nov 30 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Wayside School (Wayside School Is Falling Down, 1989, etc.) reopens after having been closed for repairs; the children have been going to horrible schools, and can't wait to come back. But when their beloved Mrs. Jewls goes on maternity leave, their first substitute is the son of the evil Mrs. Gorf, bent on revenge. With the help of Miss Mush, they get rid of him, but the next teacher is even worse. Mrs. Drazil so terrifies Louis, the yard teacher (who was her student 15 years ago), that he becomes a strict Professional Playground Supervisor. The students plot magnificently to rid themselves of this latest scourge. Schick's animated b&w drawings provide their own punch at the chapter openings. Sachar proves once again that he is a master of all things childish. As with its predecessors, this book is filled with the hilarity children love; as in Roald Dahl's tales, the humor is often anarchic, and sometimes in questionable taste, which will make the story a hit with early and middle grade readers. Easy vocabulary, short chapters, and wicked pace make the book perfect for reluctant readers, but Sachar's well-written, sophisticated comedy will appeal to everyone. (Fiction. 8+)"

School Library Journal (Thu Nov 30 00:00:00 CST 2023)

Gr 3-6--These additional anecdotes about Wayside School will surely tickle the funny bones of Sachar's fans. Thirty more ``time outs'' are miraculously conflated into a semicoherent story about the students and teachers at this unique 30-story 1-classroom-per-floor elementary school. Mrs. Jewls, the teacher atop the school, is out on maternity leave and her students find themselves facing three consecutive substitutes: Mr. Gorf, who steals kids' voices; Mrs. Drazil, who can be super sweet or sociopathically sour depending on the class's adherence to her rules; and, finally, the mind-reading and malicious Miss Nogard, who has the disturbing desire to turn students against one another. Sachar's offering contains hilarity, malevolence, romance, relentless punning, goofiness, inspiration, revenge, and poignancy. There's an edge here that may disturb some adults--a couple of the subs are over-the-top mean--but young readers will revel in the pranks, wade through the romance, identify with the students' thoughts, detect the thread connecting these stories, and come to realize that good is better than glum.--John Sigwald, Unger Memorial Library, Plainview, TX