
Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger
by Louis Sachar
Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger by Louis Sachar is assigned in US schools at grades 4–6. It appears across 3 curriculum references and 3 states, sourced from state DOE pages and AP/IB/Common Core syllabi. Every citation below links to the primary source.
This page shows where Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger is assigned in US schools — curricula, states, grades, and the primary-source citations behind each placement. Not a summary or study guide.
- Grade range
- Grades 4–6
- Pages
- 193
- Reading time
- about 3h 30m (est.)
- First published
- 2021
- ISBN-13
- 9781526622099
Where to find this book
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About this book
When a substitute teacher is called to stand in for Mrs Jewls, it can mean only one thing – strange things are going to happen at Wayside School. Miss Mush has prepared a special lunch of baked liver in purple sauce and it is pet day on the thirtieth floor. There are dogs and cats and frogs and skunks and an orange named Fido, causing a terrible commotion. Not to mention the arrival of the POOPS handbook in the playground ... Enjoy all the fun in this enormously humorous and quirky introduction to Louis Sachar's famously dry wit. From top to bottom, Wayside is packed with quirky and hilarious characters who are all brought to life in this new edition with delightful illustrations by Aleksei Bitskoff. This is an unmissable, irrepressible story of mixed-up mayhem from Louis Sachar, the bests
Where this book is assigned
Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award
- recommended·4th grade · Ohiosource: Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award — official winners list (Ohio, K-12 grade bands, voted biennially/annually since 1982)
- recommended·5th grade · Ohiosource: Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award — official winners list (Ohio, K-12 grade bands, voted biennially/annually since 1982)
Massachusetts Children's Book Award
- recommended·4th grade · Massachusettssource: Massachusetts Children's Book Award winners (Salem State University), via Goodreads award record — 1997
- recommended·5th grade · Massachusettssource: Massachusetts Children's Book Award winners (Salem State University), via Goodreads award record — 1997
- recommended·6th grade · Massachusettssource: Massachusetts Children's Book Award winners (Salem State University), via Goodreads award record — 1997
Young Hoosier Book Award
- recommended·4th grade · Indianasource: Indiana Library Federation — Young Hoosier Book Award Past Winners (Intermediate grades 4-6 + Middle Grade grades 6-8; annual since 1975)
- recommended·5th grade · Indianasource: Indiana Library Federation — Young Hoosier Book Award Past Winners (Intermediate grades 4-6 + Middle Grade grades 6-8; annual since 1975)
- recommended·6th grade · Indianasource: Indiana Library Federation — Young Hoosier Book Award Past Winners (Intermediate grades 4-6 + Middle Grade grades 6-8; annual since 1975)
Similar grade-level books
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See all books like Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger→ — matched on theme + reading level.
Common questions
- What grade level is Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger?
- Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger is most commonly assigned in US schools in grades 4–6. Specific grade placement varies by curriculum — AP Literature and IB English Literature typically use it in grades 11-12.
- How long does it take to read Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger?
- It takes about 3h 30m to read Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger (193 pages) at an average adult reading pace of about 250 words per minute — roughly 210 minutes. Faster or slower readers will vary; the estimate is a planning guide for assigning the book.
- What curricula assign Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger?
- Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger appears on reading lists for Buckeye Children's & Teen Book Award, Massachusetts Children's Book Award, Young Hoosier Book Award. Each assignment on this site links to its primary-source citation.
- Is Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger banned in schools?
- Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger does not appear in PEN America's Index of School Book Bans 2022-2024. No documented multi-district removals on record, but individual districts may challenge titles locally.
Why this book is on this list
Each dimension below is sourced from a public reference. The full framework is documented on the classification standard page.
- Lexile measure
- Not classified — this book has no published Lexile measure.
- Grade band
- Grades 4–6 — drawn from state ELA frameworks and AP/IB syllabi citing this book.
- Curriculum alignment
- Cited in 3 curricula on this site (see “Where assigned” above for primary-source links).
- State-level evidence
- Cited in 3 states ELA frameworks or DOE list (see citations above).
- Removal / banning records
- No tracked removal or challenge records in cited sources.
- Seasonal / contextual tags
- Tagged for: award-winner, book-club.