The Cloud of Doom Made Me Do It

~Wayside School
Beneath the Cloud of Doom~
Wayside School
Book 4
By Louis Sachar
Illustrated by Tim Heitz
Amazon ~ Powell's

Welcome back to Wayside School!

Your favorite students and teachers are all here. That includes Sharie, who loves her striped-and-spotted umbrella more than anything; Kathy, who has a bad case of oppositosis; Jason, who has to read the longest book in the world; and the rest of Mrs. Jewls’s class on the thirtieth floor, who are busily collecting toenail clippings.

Everyone is scrambling to prepare for the all-important Ultimate Test, but meanwhile, there is a mysterious Cloud of Doom looming above them…


Well, it's been over 20 years since I first experienced Wayside School, and it's been 40 years since the series first started. I think the author's note at the beginning expresses it the best:

This is the fourth book about Wayside School. I wrote the first one, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, more than forty years ago. I’m a lot older now, but in my heart I’m still Louis, the yard teacher, passing out the balls and playing with the kids at recess. To fully enjoy this book, you should read the other three first, wait forty years, and then read this one. Or you can just read it now. (p. ix)

Though, really you'd just have to wait 25 years (since the 3rd book was published in 1995) to get the true experience...

Wayside School Was Accidentally Built Sideways

~Wayside School~
Books 1-3
Written by Louis Sachar
Illustrated by Adam McCauley
Amazon ~ Powell's

There'd been a terrible mistake. Wayside School was supposed to be built with thirty classrooms all next to each other in a row. Instead, they built the classrooms one on top of the other ... thirty stories tall! (The builder said he was very sorry.)

That may be why all kinds of funny things happen at Wayside School ... especially on the thirtieth floor. You'll meet Mrs. Gorf, the meanest teacher of all, terrible Todd, who always gets sent home early, and John who can read only upside down - along with all the other kids in the crazy mixed-up school that came out sideways. Miss Mush is dishing out her famous Mushroom Surprise in the Wayside School cafeteria. Ron says it tastes like hot dogs and grape jelly. Clean your plate and you’ll turn green in time for class picture day. Wear your craziest outfit and you’ll fit right in between Maurecia in her striped bikini and Calvin, who’s wearing his birthday tattoo. In Mrs. Drazil's class, they're throwing a coffeepot, a sack of potatoes, a pencil sharpener, and a light bulb out the window to see which hits the ground first. But you'll never guess the truth about Sammy, the new kid ... or what's inside for Wayside School on Halloween!

I guess it's story time. I picked up Wayside School books back when I was in elementary school. I started with (what was unbeknownst to me) the second book, Wayside School is Falling Down, and absolutely loved it. I eventually picked up the other two books later, probably when my sibling was the appropriate age (we're 5 years apart), but otherwise have had no reason to think of them otherwise. Every so often the author would come up - you probably recognize him most for Holes - but the Wayside books never really got as much limelight.

Then a 4th book was released and I had to pick these up again.

The Lost Cities Are Real—But Human Stories Rarely Get Anything Right

~Keeper of the Lost Cities~
Book 1
By Shannon Messenger
Amazon ~ Powell's

Twelve-year-old Sophie Foster has a secret. She’s a Telepath — someone who hears the thoughts of everyone around her. It’s a talent she’s never known how to explain.

Everything changes the day she meets Fitz, a mysterious boy who appears out of nowhere and also reads minds. She discovers there’s a place she does belong, and that staying with her family will place her in grave danger. In the blink of an eye, Sophie is forced to leave behind everything and start a new life in a place that is vastly different from anything she has ever known.

Sophie has new rules to learn and new skills to master, and not everyone is thrilled that she has come “home.” There are secrets buried deep in Sophie’s memory — secrets about who she really is and why she was hidden among humans—that other people desperately want. Would even kill for.


I first came upon Shannon Messenger in her Sky Fall series, and since I loved that so much I decided to check out her other books. This is her debut work, but the series is still ongoing, so I figured what the hey, let's dive in.