The stories of Wayside School stick with you in weird ways ... really want a tattoo of a potato. You do you, Calvin! Yes, Catch-22. This classic, satirical novel about the absurdity of war ...

Louis Sachar's Sideways Stories From Wayside School series is still a favorite ... He has no idea why. 4. Calvin has a tattoo of a potato, and is best friends and drawing partners with Bebe.

By Christopher Healy When an author advises — as Louis Sachar does in the foreword to WAYSIDE SCHOOL BENEATH THE CLOUD OF DOOM (Harper/HarperCollins, 192 pp., $17.99; ages 8 to 12), the fourth ...

And, of course, Louis Sachar's Wayside School is definitely one of those. Full of 30 strange, undeniably kooky characters, the series made it impossible to keep a straight face while reading.