《Sideways Stories From Wayside School》是一本由三十則小故事所組成的小說,內容描寫在一所有三十層樓高、每層卻只有一間教室,且座落於路旁的小學裡面所發生的師生趣事(當然,如果你讀了這本小說,就會發現這間學校的十九層是不存在的,所以第十九篇故事也就沒什麼好寫的了)。不過呢,Wayside School的特殊之處不僅止於其建築,書裡的每一個章節重點描述一名小說人物,而故事就從有著尖耳朵、長舌頭,會把她討厭的學生變成一顆顆蘋果的Mrs. Gorf身上展開。到頭來,Mrs. Gorf也被自己的法術變成了蘋果,而學校的體育老師Louis正巧肚子餓,就一口把那顆蘋果吃掉了。這群學生的第一位老師就這麼離奇地消失無蹤,也讓新的級任老師Mrs. Jewls有機會登場。就像這樣,每一個新角色在作者幽默滑稽的生花妙筆之下一一出場,為整本小說增加了新的面向,發展出更深的層次。 由於《Wayside School》小說大受歡迎,儘管作者Louis Sachar原本並沒有設想要將之寫成系列小說,但是他仍然應小讀者們的要求,依循同樣的小說架構撰寫了《Wayside School》的續集《Wayside School Is Falling Down》 (1989)以及《Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger》(1995),同樣充滿了令人捧腹的情節與瘋狂的想像。 Louis Sachar在作品中巧妙地融入似非而是的議論與出人意表的情節轉折,並且孕含了無人能及的幽默感,讀來讓人手不釋卷。然而,在他古靈精怪的故事背後,往往也能讓讀者從字裡行間感受到作者的人性關懷與溫暖,並且從中讀到一些發人省思的警句,這也正是這個系列最為成功之處。
Bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning author Louis Sachar knows how to make readers laugh. And there are laughs galore in perennial favorite Wayside School Gets a Little StrangerBefore you enter Wayside School, you should know that it''s a thirty-story building with one classroom on each floor. Mrs. Jewls teaches the class on the thirtieth story. Miss Zarves teaches the class on the nineteenth story--except there is no nineteenth story, so there is no Miss Zarves. Understand? Good. Explain it to Calvin.And get ready for Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom, the brand-new, fourth installment in the series, and the first in twenty-five years More than fifteen million readers have laughed at the clever and hilarious stories of Wayside School. So what are you waiting for? Come visit Wayside School
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