The Classroom at the End of the Hall

by Douglas Evans, Lawrence di Fiori (Illustrations)

Strange things are happening in the classroom at the end of the hall, like a chalk dust genie that appears while the erasers are being cleaned, and the new art teacher who resembles a stick figure.

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Fantasy, Middle Grade, School, Mystery, Short Stories

144 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Douglas Evans lives in Berkeley, California. He grew up in Ohio and Minnesota and taught for many years in various settings ranging from a small logging town in Oregon, to a wealthy suburb in California; a private school in Berkeley, to international schools in Helsinki and London. Now he is a full-time writer of books, stories, plays, and screenplays for children. Doug spends a good part of each year living abroad and has visited over 100 countries. Doug plays a competent piano and guitar and has written over 400 songs and compositions. His published books include MVP: Magellan Voyage Project, The Elevator Family, and Classroom at the End of the Hall.

Reviews

[Ruqia · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cutest book out there.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book on sale at a local bookstore, and I thought well, what the heck. I have to read 30-40 children's books for my elementary education class, and I am seriously lacking in stories for my intermediate readers (grades 3-5). Wow, I lucked out when I picked up this book, much to my surprise, it was a highly enjoyable read.

I think this book is good for middle to older primary readers in 1st or 2nd grade up through 4th grade. It's almost hard to categorize this book. Each chapter is its own story and each one has a variety of unique characters and unexpected surprises. It is realistic fiction in many regards, yet it is filled with enough fantasy to keep it highly entertaining. There are 11 magical tales filled with a genie, a critter that lives in messy desks, a ghost in the attic, and a special bug that whispers the answers to test questions and helps with school work. Each chapter in this book involves a different student from the same class, and each character has some issues to resolve and things they need to learn. Among them there is a student with a big ego, a messy student, and one who doesn't want to do her own work. This classroom is filled with a variety of fantastical happenings and each one leads to a lesson for the main character and the reader.

This book would lend it self well to lessons involving comprehension. The stories are silly and fun enough that they will keep young readers engaged. They can learn to compare and contrast stories written by the same author, and students can also discuss the themes of different chapters. This book could also be used in a study of characters, because each of the characters in the different chapters has their own traits, motivations, and feelings. Students can use these to understand how the actions of the characters contributed to the events. There are a variety of fun ways that this book could be incorporated into a classroom reading lesson.

So it appears that my bargain find at the local bookstore has already paid for itself with its usefulness.

[Adelinep · Rating 4 out of 5]

The classroom at the end of the hall




The classroom at the end of the hall is a book with a bunch of different short stories about the classroom at the end of the hall. My favorite story was where 2 kids go in the attic of the school. They find a very old man sitting in a chair. The 2 kids soon find out this man was the first teacher from the classroom at the end of the hall. They also find out some of the amazing things he does for all kids in classrooms all over the world including theirs.

This book was a easy read, but it was always one of my favorites. I got it in 4th grade from my mom. Iv'e been enjoying it ever since.This book has everything from guineas to monsters that live in messy desks. There are other books by this author like math rashes and other classroom tales and apple island
I have them all. A kid of any age can pick up this book and get a good laugh from it.

This author helped me with some things too. Like not having a messy desk, to have manners in school, and many others.

[Rea K · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pop Sugar Book Challenge: Less than 150 pages

Loved this book when I was younger, and foolishly gave it away to some kids so that they could enjoy it. Found a new copy and I'm ecstatic.
Yeah. It's not super deep or anything, but it's one of those books that I really liked. It's about third graders, sort of on the lines of Wayside School as mentioned by another reviewer.

[Zev · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this a few times as a kid. It was awesome, and I was so curious if anyone lived above our elementary school classroom. There was an indelible urban legend, though, that there was a coffin buried on school grounds where playground equipment ended and woods began. -That- chilled me to the bone at the time but I always pretended to giggle. As an adult when I think about it, that urban legend makes no sense. I might write a short story and -make- it make sense. Ooh, ideas. Reading this book as an adult--I was a little disappointed to find out just how many of the stories had become bland to me. One or two made me giggle, and another made me burst out laughing. My favorite remains "Kenneth's Purple Reader." The ending story was scary to me as a kid! Now, it's...there was an odd focus on pigeon droppings. I'm not sure if that was for dramatic effect or comedic relief or what. I highly recommend this book to little kids, and like to think they find out safely if there's a ghost of a teacher above their classrooms.

[Fernando Torres · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was written by Douglas Evans and is a fiction book. It is about a group of students in the third grade that learned some hard lessons. First, there was a kid named Roger who liked to get in trouble. He liked to clean the chalk erasers because it allowed him to be messy and noisy without getting into trouble.

[Kelly Wickham · Rating 3 out of 5]

These are semi-creepy, supernaturalistic stories about The Classroom At the End of The Hall. A chalk dust genie, a messy desk pet, and The Purple Reader that lets you read about what will happen in the future. I don't think these were favorite stories for me or the kids but they gave us ideas to wrap our imagination around.

[Jett · Rating 2 out of 5]

SO OUT DATED, it's from 1996, more like 26 B.C. They used freaking Mary Had A Little Lamb, so messed up. The book was ok I didn't like some of the tiny stories inside the book. I liked the characters.

[Syn :) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rhoad Dhal esque

[Warlendy]

"up front, the tall teacher also had his head down on his desk." the author is describing that the teacher is tired.

[Jimini Billibob · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for kids in elementary school.

[Shannon Mulholland · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because it was nostalgic, but none of the short stories really stuck with me.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read aloud with my youngest. He really liked it but I thought it was just okay.

[Israel Cortes · Rating 3 out of 5]

the book is so creepy. it's a scary book to read.

[June · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book of mostly normal stories about classroom life, but each account has a little supernatural rift in it, through which pour humorous wordplays and subtle life lessons.

[Sharlene Hakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute stories about a 3rd grade classroom.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a read-aloud for my class and they loved it!

[Andrea]

is funny is good

[Victoriasaravia · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was an okay book. It is a book made out of short stories. All of the stories are humorous and contain a valuable lesson for kids. All the children have a problem, they are either messy, can't read...etc. However they all find a way to solved their problem in a funny yet educational way. The characters are a lot of fun, and it is nice to learn as you read. Douglas Evans has a nice style of writing, he makes his characters feel exactly how YOU would feel if you were in their situation. This book is for younger children, but I think it could still be enjoyed by adults. The book has one bad thing, the book teaches you a few things that you already know how to do. This can get a bit boring. For example, one of the stories is about learning how to read, if you are reading the book than you know how to read. This was a boring story for me. Overall the book was okay, and I still would recommend it to people who like to read short stories. After all in the story there are scenes that you can relate to, because everyone has been through at least one of the problems. This book was okay.

[Anishkajoab]

Classroom at the end of the hall was a funny and a meaningful book. There was a lesson after every chapter. Like in the new art teacher Charlie used to hate art until he realised that the things he drew actually showed up on real stick figure people. So then he started making an effort to make these stick figure people look good. If he drew big huge square ears on his stick figure person the ears would show on Miss Tra-la-la his new stick figure art teacher. This gave me a lesson that you try you best and when you do it will actually make a difference. And that you should always have fun in what you are doing cause when you do it will always turn out good. This book taught lots of other lessons like this one.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Evans' The Classroom at the End of the Hall is yet another in the oddball school days genre. It is sure to be welcomed by Wayside School and Weird School Days fans, which was why I picked it up for my students. In this book, the reader is introduced to an unusual classroom at Walter T. Melon School. Each chapter introduces an unusual member of the class or some off-the-wall character like the Chalk Dust Genie or the Messy Desk Pest. I think this would be a wonderful read-aloud. Kids will certainly notice the subtle lessons presented in the situations, but they'll be laughing so hard, they won't care that they're also learning character lessons about responsibility, doing quality work, or temptations to cheat.

[Carmen Nuland · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute story about the children in the Classroom. Each chapter is a separate story and each represents a lesson learned by one or more children. My eight year old and I really enjoyed reading this book!

[Lisa Tortorello · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Classroom at the End of the Hall by Douglas Evans is a fun chapter book that will even get reluctant readers to keep turning the pages. As a teacher, I saw some of my students in these characters and I am sure children will be able to identify with them as well. Whether they see themselves or someone in their class, there is enough fun, exaggeration, and peculiarities in the room at the end of the hall for everyone. This story would be great as a read aloud too!

[Bennett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great quirky and funny look at the fears and imagination that so many elementary students experience. Somewhat in the same vein as "Sideways Stories" but with a cast of characters more easy for kids to identify with.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be careful what you wish for. This book is full of short stories about kids who wish for things that come true, and in the end things turn out a lot worse. I thought these stories were very humorous. I think this book would be perfect for kids in grades 3-5.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

this was a cute book - definitely for our lower level readers in the junior high. i liked how each chapter dealt with a student, their issues and how those issues were overcome. nice and short - which is also what some of our students like.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this book for each of my students because of some write-ups I found that said the book was 'hilarious' from start to finish. While I didn't find it all that funny, hopefully my students will.

[Hilarie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jack enjoyed this one more than I did. It kept him interested since each chapter is a new story focusing on a character in the classroom. I thought it was ok...It was nice that each story had a life lesson.

[Jennifer Minick · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was okay. i hate reading.

[Krishna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious book! Old time classic of second grade. =)