Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom (2020)

Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom is a 2020 children's short story cycle novel by American author Louis Sachar. It is the fourth book in the main Wayside School series, and the sixth book overall.

The book is set in the titular Wayside School, an elementary school that was accidentally built sideways, being thirty stories tall with one classroom on each floor, but without a nineteenth story. The book focuses on the school as the Cloud of Doom, a large gloomy storm cloud, settles above the school, inciting bouts of anxiety and depression in the students. In an interview with The Washington Post, Louis Sachar explains that the story was inspired by various factors in the modern world that have been causing him stress, including global warming, his mother's battle with Alzheimer's disease, and the election of Donald Trump.

Chapters

1. The Bells of Wayside

This chapter introduces Wayside School's elaborate bell system, while Todd tries to rush to class in the morning. He shows up late, and the day goes poorly for him, as his name is written on the discipline list, Mrs. Jewls assigns numerous homework assignments, and a warning is written on the blackboard about the upcoming Ultimate Test. At the end of the chapter, the Erase-the-Blackboard Bell rings, forcing Mrs. Jewls to erase the blackboard, cancelling the homework assignments, delaying the Ultimate Test, and removing Todd's name from the discipline list.

2. A Million

Mrs. Jewls is teaching the class a lesson on how large a million is, and decides the best way to show it is by collecting a million of something. Terrence, who had been kicking things for the entire morning, is not paying attention due to his big toe hurting, and decides to relieve his pain by clipping his toenail. Mrs. Jewls, seeing this, decides that the class will collect a million nail clippings.

3. Up and Down

D.J. has a bad case of the hiccups, which Kathy is arguing with. Mrs. Jewls has D.J. see Dr. Pickell to cure his hiccups, and has Kathy come with him. Dr. Pickell takes note of Kathy's argumentative behavior as he takes D.J. into his office to scare the hiccups out of him. When finished, Dr. Pickell decides to take Kathy into his office as well, while D.J. waits in the hallway. When she returns, she is acting much nicer, something that catches D.J. off-guard.

4. Consider the Paper Clip

Dana, having finished her book report, needs a paper clip to hold it together, but is unable to find one. She asks Mrs. Jewls for a new one, and Mrs. Jewls is very upset, having given Dana a paper clip at the start of the year that she was supposed to hold on to. After it turns out numerous other students have lost their paper clips as well, Mrs. Jewls is ashamed, and explains to the class the laborious process by which paper clips are made. She hands Dana a new paper clip, and Dana promises not to lose it.

5. Eric, Eric, and What's-His-Name?

Of the three Erics in Mrs. Jewls's class, Eric Ovens is shown to be the one that gets the least attention from his classmates. Eric Ovens hopes to remedy this by bringing in more nail clippings than any other student, but is disheartened when he is overshadowed by Eric Bacon bringing in 349. Kathy, however, encourages Eric Ovens to still show his collection to Mrs. Jewls, and cheers him on due to bringing the second-most ever, something the rest of the class joins in on.

6. Oppositosis

A flashback to "Up and Down," where Kathy is seen in Dr. Pickell's office. Dr. Pickell has Kathy say the first word that comes to her mind based on the words he says, and diagnoses her with oppositosis, a condition that makes her say the opposite of whatever she intends to. He hypnotizes her, and has her imagine stepping through a mirror, and imagine what is on the other side. He then has her wake up, still on the other side of the mirror. Back in Mrs. Jewls's class, Mrs. Jewls notices that while Kathy has been acting nicer lately, all of her work is being written backwards.

7. The Closet That Wasn't There

When Mac returns to class from lunch, he notices a large, heavily locked cabinet outside of Mrs. Jewls's class. The other students also start to notice the closet, and start questioning what is inside. They attempt opening it, but Mrs. Jewls shows up, frantically warning all the students to stay away from her closet, telling them to treat it as if it is not there. Mac, however, is left more curious than ever.

8. Science

The students of Mrs. Jewls's class go onto the school's roof to study the various clouds in the sky. Bebe draws pictures of the clouds in her notebook, imagining them as other things. Benjamin notices a dark cloud off in the distance, and asks what it is, but Mrs. Jewls has all the students run back inside as fast as they can. The chapter ends with Mrs. Jewls explaining that it is a Cloud of Doom.

9. The Gonnnnng

Louis is working on the playground, when the Cloud of Doom casts its shadow over the school. Louis ends up over-inflating a ball, causing it to explode, and begins to collect the scattered pieces, but remembers he has to prepare the gong that Mr. Kidswatter rings at the end of the day. After Kidswatter rings the gong, he notices the kids complimenting Louis, but not himself, and asks Louis why. Louis tells Mr. Kidswatter that he should do something nice for the students, like letting one of them ring the gong instead. Mr. Kidswatter is initially hesitant, but considers it after hearing that Louis may write a nice chapter about him later in the book.

10. Stuck