While reading the August 2007 edition of Nickelodeon magazine, which you can check out from the youth dept., I just finished reading an interview with the actors who play Harry, Ron and Hermoine, about the Harry Potter #5 movie coming out...and turned the page.

There, I was thrilled to see that Nick was having a new cartoon show--"Wayside"-- based on some of the funniest chapter books, the Wayside School series by Louis Sachar. Sachar might be most well known for the novel Holes, which was made into a movie a few years ago, but the Wayside School books have a completely different--and hilarious--tone. They are great if you love wacky humor...and they are also good for readers who are looking for something quick, because they are essentially written almost as a collection of short stories, so you can almost open the books to any chapter and just read it as a funny skit. To understand the premise, readers should read the first, Sideways Stories from Wayside School.