Wayside School should have been built like most regular schools: one story high with its classrooms all in a row. Instead, someone goofed up and the classrooms got piled up one on top of the other, 30 stories high. And if this seems bizarre, it's merely the preface to Louis Sachar's collection of 30 stories -- now available in a new paperback edition -- about the 30th story of Wayside School.
The classroom at the very top is packed with the craziest students and teachers you can imagine. For instance, John can only read upside-down and that's a real problem when he's trying to follow what's written on the blackboard. Instead of telling him to read the right way up, what does his teacher suggest? Something no right-minded person would: that he stands on his head.