Follows the adventures and misadventures of students and staff as they cope with the effects of a large, gloomy cloud that has settled over Wayside School.

Twelve-year-old Amelia gets the opportunity to attend a boarding school and learn how to use music to create magic, hoping to become a Maestro like her deceased mother.

The pigeon must go to school, but frets about math, learning the alphabet, heavy backpacks, and what the teacher and other birds will think of him.

Mildred Hubble is the worst witch at Miss Cackle's Academy for Witches. She's always getting her spells wrong. But she manages to get by until she turns Ethel, the teacher's pet, into her deadly enemy.

Told in alternating voices, the teacher and students in room 117 find their lives changed over the course of a school year.

Livi imagines herself as an elephant, a Sherpa leading an expedition up Mount Everest, and a movie star signing autographs as she tries to avoid going to school.

"The crayons are getting ready to go back to school, and each crayon has a subject they're looking forward to the most. They're also ready to meet new friends ... and let loose during their very favorite time of day: art class"--

Ally has been smart enough to fool a lot of smart people. Every time she lands in a new school, she is able to hide her inability to read by creating clever yet disruptive distractions. She is afraid to ask for help; after all, how can you cure dumb? However, her newest teacher Mr. Daniels sees the bright, creative kid underneath the trouble maker. With his help, Ally learns not to be so hard on herself and that dyslexia is nothing to be ashamed of....

Mr. Monkey is invited to visit a school to perform a trick he just learned, but nothing goes as planned.

Several students relate their experiences helping Mr. Terupt move the old classroom to the sixth grade annex during the summer vacation.