Wayside School is Falling Down
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wayside School is Falling Down | |
 First edition cover |
|
| Author | Louis Sachar |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Sideways Stories From Wayside School |
| Genre(s) | Children's literature |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Publication date | March 22, 1989 |
| Media type | Print (in Hardcover and Paperback) |
| Pages | 179 pp (1st edition hardcover) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-380-72381-6 (paperback) ISBN 0-688-07868-0 (hardcover) |
| Preceded by | Sideways Stories From Wayside School (1978) |
| Followed by | Wayside School Gets A Little Stranger (1995) |
Wayside School is Falling Down is an 1989 children's novel by American author Louis Sachar, and the second book in his Sideways Stories From Wayside School series. Like its predecessor, it contains 30 chapters, although some chapters are interconnected in a more narrative form rather than as separate stories, as is the case for its predecessor. The title comes from the title of the favorite song of one character, Kathy, in the tune of London Bridge is Falling Down, during the course of the book. Much of the story's humor relies on running gags - some introduced in this book while others introduced in Sideways Stories.
[edit] Plot summary
 |
The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
Wayside School is Falling Down revolves around three main storylines: first is the introduction of a new student, Benjamin Nushmutt, while another involves Miss Zarves, the teacher of the nonexistent 19th-floor class. The third and final storyline, told in the final chapter of the book, ends in a cliffhanger ending.
In the first storyline, Benjamin is introduced as Mark Miller erroneously by Mrs. Jewls. Not wanting to correct the teacher, and feeling that he is a showpiece, he lets the lie stick. However, "Mark" would prove to be popular among his classmates, which made Benjamin believe that his alter-ego was better than him in every way. His attempts in correcting everyone has always been futile: when a lunch meant for him was delivered by Louis under his real name, Mrs. Jewls adamantly defended that there was no one with the name Benjamin in his class, and Benjamin believed that correcting Mrs. Jewls would make her believe that he is conning himself out of someone else's lunch. When he decides to correct Mrs. Jewls during a music lesson, he is drowned out by the sounds of other students playing their instruments. Later still, when he tries to tell a substitute teacher, Mrs. Franklin, the truth, everyone else believes that it is merely a prank on the substitute teacher (and everyone else tells her that their names are Benjamin as well), although the substitute teacher did manage to detect the ruse (but told the students nonetheless that her name was also Benjamin to play along). When Benjamin finally has enough courage to correct Mrs. Jewls, he is surprised at her nonexistent reaction. When asked about why Mrs. Jewls did not think anything of it, the students react by saying that Benjamin is just as weird as the rest of the class.
The second storyline spans the whole of the "nineteenth chapter", which is itself spanned over three chapters (to make the chapters equal to 30, three chapters on the three Erics were "condensed" into one). In the series of chapters, Allison, wondering whether Wayside was really 29 stories because of the lack of a 19th-story classroom while wandering up the stairs to class, finds that everyone else is ignoring her. In fact, everyone believes that she is absent. Believing that everyone else has gone insane, Allison goes to the students on the other floors for help, but the only class that offers her help is the one on the nonexistent 19th-story, headed by one nonexistent Miss Zarves. When Miss Zarves takes her in, though, Allison is mistaken for a new student. Allison finds that Miss Zarves has been teaching the same students for many years, who has given everyone As regardless of their actual work, and who assigns everyone busy work such as memorizing a dictionary or writing down numbers in alphabetical order. Furthermore, Allison discovers that once in Miss Zarves' class a student is doomed to stay there - there is no recess, there is no lunch - They are not even allowed to eat, there are no bathroom breaks, and there is no time in which students go home - only two minutes of rest for every 11 hours of work. Her only confidant in this class is one elusive Mark Miller, who is referred to, ironically enough, as "Benjamin Nushmutt" by everyone else in class. After being trapped there for six days, she hardens her resolve to escape, and discovers that the only way out is to misbehave in class. Allison returns to the "real world", somewhere between the 18th and 20th stories, and relives the day when she was trapped on the 19th story all over again. Mark would later also "escape" on the same day that Benjamin would correct Mrs. Jewls (coincidentally the same day that the students of Miss Zarves' class had stopped calling Mark "Ben") - it had turned out that, as described by one of Mac's long-winded anecdotes, his ear had been cut off and he had to be let go so that his ear could be reattached.
In the eponymous final chapter of the book, a strong wind had impeded the students from entering the start of the school day, also causing Wayside itself to sway. This causes Kathy to believe that the school will fall down. On the same day, however, is the day of a scheduled fire drill. As the fire drill begins, several students (Stephen in particular) are worried that a real fire may have started in the floors below, no one will rescue them because firefighters may believe that it is only a fire drill. As part of the fire drill, Mrs. Jewls leads her students (by way of cowbell) onto the roof of Wayside. While on the roof, Jenny notices that a tornado is within the vicinity, causing her to believe that Wayside may be in its path. As the weather becomes worse, Todd worries that they will be struck by lightning. As noise from the floors below begin to cause the building to shake, Benjamin worries that the school may collapse from an earthquake. In the end, none of the above happened - as it turns out, the cowbell noise had attracted cows from the countryside, filling the rooms and hallways of Wayside with cows. Because of this, Wayside was closed down, with only Louis, the Yard Teacher at Wayside, making any effort into removing the cows from the school. It should be noted that this is the only Wayside School book that has a fire drill. Not many school books have fire drills.
