Tim Heitz's illustration for the chapter
Todd is the fifth chapter of Sideways Stories From Wayside School.
Summary[]
Todd always gets in trouble because he's always picked on by Mrs. Jewls when he does even a very small thing wrong. In this sense, Mrs. Jewls could be considered "mean". In the end, despite being harassed by Joy and saving the class from robbers, he gets sent home on the kindergarten bus.
Characters[]
Plot[]
Todd is a good student, but he always gets in trouble due to Mrs. Jewls selectively enforcing the rules. One day, all the students are chattering away while Todd sits quietly, thinking. But practically as soon as he gets an idea and decides to share it with the other students, Mrs. Jewls reprimands him for speaking out loud in class, writes his name under the word discipline on the board, and tells him to try harder to be quiet like the other students, despite all the other students talking out loud with each other earlier. Todd is amazed that he's the one in trouble and confused about the students talking and arguing with each other one moment and then quietly working at their desks a few seconds later. Mrs. Jewls's class works on a three-strike system: first, the student's name is written on the board, then a checkmark is written next to it. Upon receiving a third strike, the name is circled, and the student is sent home early on the kindergarten bus. Joy leans over to ask Todd what page he's working on, and Todd whispers back. Joy keeps bothering him. Todd doesn't want to compete, but when Mrs. Jewls asks the class what page they are on, Todd tries to tell her, but Joy interrupts by loudly shouting that she is on Page 200. Todd tries to make her quiet down and asks her to stop bothering him and let him do his work but again Mrs. Jewls reprimands Todd for talking in class, even though it was Joy who raised her voice. Todd tries his best to behave, because he knows he's been sent home early every single day from school. Suddenly, there's a knock at the classroom door and two masked robbers burst inside asking for money. The students tell them they don't have any. Todd tells them that the school isn't a bank and asks if they can read. The robbers tell him that they can't, but still demand something valuable from the class. Todd tells them that the one valuable thing the class has is knowledge and he gives them Joy's workbooks, pointing out that knowledge is much more valuable than money. The robbers leave without doing any damage. One of them thinks maybe he should become a scientist instead. Todd has saved the day, but his heroism goes unnoticed. The kids go back to work and Joy is given a new workbook. Todd asks her what page she's on, and triumphantly brags about how much further he is. Unfortunately, that's his third strike, so he has to go home on the kindergarten bus. As he leaves, he hears the other students give him a standing ovation for his heroics. He simply scratches his head in confusion.
Memorable Quotes[]
- Narrator: Todd really tried to be good. He knew that if he talked one more time, Mrs. Jewls would circle his name. Then he’d have to go home early, at twelve o’clock, on the kindergarten bus, just as he had the day before and the day before that. In fact, there hadn’t been a day since Mrs. Jewls took over the class that she didn’t send Todd home early. She said she did it for his own good. The other children went home at two o’clock.
- Todd: Knowledge is much more valuable than money.
- Robber 2: Maybe I'll give up being a criminal and become a scientist.
- Narrator: Todd scratched his head.
Notes & Trivia[]
- It is revealed in this chapter that Mrs. Jewls operates on a three strikes system: Anyone who violates rules three times - as denoted by their name written on the board, a checkmark, and their name circled - is sent home on the kindergarten bus. In the first book, she writes the kids' names on the board; in subsequent books, she makes the kids do so themselves.
- Leslie and Dameon are first identified here.