The Classroom At The End Of The Hall Author: Douglas Evans
	Book Information Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks Book Type: Paperback Rating: 5 ISBN-13: 9780590025706 - ISBN-10: 0590025708 Pages: 144

Peculiar happenings are the norm in the classroom that serves as the setting for this droll collection. Occasionally reminiscent of Louis Sachar's Wayside School stories, these cleverly crafted episodes likewise make the impossible highly entertaining, and at times strangely plausible.



Nimbly shifting perspectives, the narrator focuses on various students' encounters with such creatures as a genie who appears from a cloud of chalk dust and grants the ill-conceived wish of the class "Pain-in-the-Neck" to become the teacher; a hairy pest that takes over a girl's hopelessly messy desk; a witch who upstages the class braggart during a Halloween party; and a bug that whispers answers in a girl's ear, breaking her of the habit of copying off her classmates' papers.



Lacing his stories with waggish wordplay and humorous asides, first-time author Evans conveys worthy messages with a lighthearted subtlety. A refreshing debut, and a good choice for a middle-grade classroom read-aloud. Ages 8-12.

From the back cover:

Meet Roger. He's always doing gross stuff - like writing his name on the blackboard in gunk from his nose. Recently, when he was cleaning the erasers, out billowed a chalk dust genie! But Roger's three wishes turned out to be much more than he bargained for.

Then there's Emily, a very tidy girl with a very messy desk. That was no problem, until the Messy Desk Pest moved in...

Here are nine stories of the strange and peculiar happenings at W.T. Melon Elementary, in the classroom at the end of the hall. So come inside and pull up a desk... and get ready for the wackiest, weirdest class of your life!

"What children will enjoy is the funny exaggeration of a third-grade classroom - exactly what is in a messy desk; exactly what the class pest does to gross you out." - Booklist