Bebe
This book is the volume which introduces what will become a series about the students and teachers at Wayside School. As such, this entry in the series is, chronologically speaking at least, the very first introduction to many characters that will pop up again in later books. This introductory element explains why this particular book is constructed in a way that later volumes aren’t: each chapter is an exercise in imagery that provides a succinct description of the character at the center of that chapter. For instance, Chapter 6 begins in this way:
"Bebe was a girl with short brown hair, a little beebee nose, totally tiny toes and big brown eyes. Her full name was Bebe Gunn. She was the fastest draw in Mrs. Jewls’s class. She could draw a cat in less than forty-five seconds, a dog in less than thirty and a flower in less than eight seconds.”
Sharie
Sharie’s introduction is a bit heavier on the physical description than Bebe’s which places equal attention upon her artistic talents. The imagery used to describe Sharie also illuminates the degree to which these descriptions often lean toward the absurd to imprint the student upon the reader:
“Sharie had long eyelashes. She weighed only forty-nine pounds. She always wore a big red and blue overcoat with a hood. The overcoat weighed thirty-five pounds. The red part weighed fifteen pounds, the blue part weighed fifteen pounds and the hood weighed five pounds. Her eyelashes weighed a pound and a half.”
Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen of this introductory edition to the world of Wayside School commences what can be argued is the strangest element of the books. Over the course of the subsequent sequels, this imagery will be repeated often and without any extra attention or analysis. It is simply accepted as being true even though events elsewhere in the book bring that truth into question relative to the genuine reality of the situation:
“19
MISS ZARVES
There is no Miss Zarves. There is no nineteenth storey. Sorry.”
Kathy
A demonstration of the playfulness of the narrative is indicated by the imagery which describes Kathy in Chapter 20. Suddenly, without preparation or warning, the perspective turns into the rarely used second person in which readers find themselves being addressed directly. And in this case, the direct address intended to showcase Kathy’s personality is more than bit unsettling:
“Kathy doesn’t like you. She doesn’t know you, but she still doesn’t like you. She thinks you are stupid! In fact, she thinks you are the stupidest person she doesn’t know. What do you think of that? She also thinks you’re ugly! As a matter of fact, she thinks you are the ugliest person she doesn’t know. And she doesn’t know a lot of people.”
