Invisibility and Appreciation
Chapter Nineteen of all the books in the Wayside series features stories about how the 19th floor of the school does not technically exist because of a numbering mistake. This allows for the books to always introduce themes related to not being recognized and the subsequent insistence upon existence. A new wrinkle is added to the theme in this volume when Miss Zarves, who teaches in the classroom on the floor, has a strange interlude involving three unidentified men holding a briefcase. The contents of the briefcase is a handkerchief in which she blows her nose. After a short discussion in which Miss Zarves complains about the difficulty of being a teacher who goes unnoticed and unappreciated, the men inform her that they have taken notice of her hard work and are there to acknowledge her existence and show appreciation for her dedication.
People are Strange
The title suggests that what happens at Wayside School in this volume is even weirder than what has already happened there before. That is saying something because some very strange things are always happening at the school. The strangeness this time around is more centered around the odd quirks peculiarities and secrets of people, especially adults. The Principal decides to ban the use of the word “door” by replacing it with “goozack” for absolutely no logical reason. The students organize a protest designed to replace substitute teacher Mrs. Drazil even though she is very popular because she is fair to all the students. They turn upon her after she makes just one unpopular demand: that Playground Supervisor Louis shaved off his mustache. Dr. Pickell tries to hypnotize students and the new teacher Mr. Gorf turns out to be a son bent on revenge against the students after his mother, in an earlier book, was turned into an apple and eaten. Although the title suggests that it is the school itself that is responsible for the increased strangeness, the truth is that the people occupying the school have become strangers. The implicit message of this theme is a warning to young readers that this is exactly how the world of adulthood works.
Reality and Perception
A recurring theme throughout the series takes front and center in this entry. The very architecture of Wayside School addresses the theme of how perception sometimes differs from reality. Simply because there is no floor identified as the 19th, the perception persists that there is no 19th floor when it does exist. Mr. Gorf undergoes a rollercoaster ride of changing perceptions in which he is first viewed with suspicion, then accepted as a good guy, and then reveals himself to be villainous even though the reality all along is that he is a bad man. Doors remain doors even though they must be called, temporarily, goozacks. Even the language itself constantly plays around with the theme of perception versus reality in examples like “The new kid couldn’t talk. She had no teeth. She was almost bald. She was beautiful.” This is not a description of a very strange-looking student but of Mrs. Jewels’ four-day-old baby.
