I’ve talked here at The Bookworm Broadcast about how much I love the book, “Sideways Stories from Wayside School” and how excited I was (cautiously) that it was made into a television cartoon. There definitely was potential there, with all the goofy stories! As a bookworm, though, I have to admit it did make me nervous. As a perfect example of the way I feel about this, my town library once had a sign up that said, “Never judge a book by its movie”. I shared with you that I was pretty pleased with this book-into-TV transition. And I’m hopeful that at least some kids will be intrigued enough with the show to want to read the books! I can hope, right? Hey - I’ve always been that way - if I really, really like a movie/show, I want to read the book!

The basic story of this book is that The Wayside School was accidentally built 30 stories tall, with one classroom per floor, instead of one story tall, with 30 classrooms. The builder’s felt really bad about it and apologized a whole lot! On each floor of the building, in each classroom, is another crazy class - with another wacky tale to tell.

The main character, Todd, goes to school on the 30th floor and at recess time, he has to hurry as fast as he can to get down to the bottom floor, so that he can get one of the cherished playground balls from the janitor. It is first-come-first-serve and it’s hard to make it down all thirty floors quickly!

Todd’s teacher, Mrs. Jewl, not only allows the students to sleep - she encourages it! And when he tries to hand in his homework, he winds up in trouble - he gets detention or has to ride the kindergarten bus home!

The wackiness just goes on and on! So, while I definitely wondered if Wayside - The Cartoon could possibly measure up to the book, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised! They’ve added some things and taken some things out and it is, for sure, a different experience than the book. It is tons of fun, though! And the cool thing is that it is great fun for the whole family to watch! It is one of those cartoons that everyone in your family, no matter their age, will enjoy!

Wayside School: Season One definitely gets this bookworm’s seal of approval!

And just to appeal to my book-lovin’ heart, they actually included a copy of Sideways Stories from Wayside School with the DVD! Now, how cool is that?

I was walking past my daughter’s room yesterday and heard the TV announce, The Wayside cartoon coming up next. “Wayside cartoon?” I asked my daughter. “Are they talking about Sideways Stories?”

“Yep,” she said.

Hmm…I was intrigued. I am usually quite disappointed when books become movies or TV shows, but, with a fun and silly book like Sideways Stories, it just might work! The books (there is a series) were written by Louis Sachar, and the kids and I just love them!

So I sat down to watch an episode with her. It was kind of cute, and definitely fun. There was a bit lost in translation, especially if you have never read the books. But, I suppose, if it is a good jumping-off point to get kids to read the books, and then further enjoy the TV show, that’s all good, right? Watch the show –> get interested –> read the books –> watch the show with the book knowledge –> read the books some more because you’re having so much fun! That sounds like a good plan to me!

It comes on Nickelodeon, and the Nick webpages for it look like they could be lots of fun, too! You can reach them here: Wayside And it is actually being co-produced by Teletoon in Canada.

There is already a Wikipedia entry for it, although it just premiered on June 25th! You can read it here: Wayside (TV series)

There was a great article about it in the Boston Globe, by Joanna Weiss, in which she puts into words so well the thoughts and feelings that I was having about this much-loved book-turned-cartoon. The article is aptly titled, “‘Wayside’ skips the nuance, but, not the fun”.

I would have to say that, so far, I am actually happy with this project that very well could have tarnished a cherished children’s book series. I think they’ve actually done a good job in representing the silliness that is Wayside, and possibly even gotten some children excited enough about the chaotic fun to read the books!

GO READ A BOOK!