Kathy (book chapter)

— Narration

Illustrated by Tim Heitz

"**Kathy**" is the twentieth chapter of *Sideways Stories from Wayside School*.

## Synopsis

It is explained why Kathy hates everyone in Mrs. Jewls's class.

## Plot

The chapter opens with the narrator mentioning that Kathy doesn't like the reader, and that they are the stupidest person she doesn't know. She also thinks the reader is the ugliest person she doesn't know, and she doesn't know a lot of people. She dislikes almost everyone, especially the people she doesn't know. She thinks D.J. smiles too much and hates John because he can't stand on his head. One of the few things she did like was Sammy, who was a dead rat. Her reasons for disliking each person in the class are often self-fulfilling.

After the introduction, the narrator talks about a time Kathy had a pet cat named Skunks, whom she kind of liked. She was afraid he would run away, but Mrs. Jewls told her that he would stay as long as Kathy took good care of him, and remembered to give him plenty of food and water. However, Kathy thought Mrs. Jewls was wrong, and to keep Skunks around, locked him in a closet just in case, sometimes even forgetting to take care of him. One day, when Kathy was looking for her other shoe, Skunks ran out and never came back. Kathy bragged to Mrs. Jewls, claiming that she was right all along, and tells her that next time she gets a cat, she'll kill him so he never runs away. This is how Kathy started hating Mrs. Jewls.

Kathy has good reasons for disliking other people as well, since as far as she's concerned, each one of them was wrong about something. For example, one time Dameon was trying to teach Kathy how to play catch. Kathy complains that she'll just get hurt, but Dameon states that as long as she keeps her eyes on the ball, everything will be okay. However, worrying that she'll be hurt in advance, she closes her eyes and refuses to catch the ball, thus allowing it to hit her in the face. She claims that Dameon was wrong and she was right as she runs away sobbing. The narrator says that it was because of this incident why Kathy hates Dameon.

Allison thinks that if she is nice to Kathy, she might be nice to her in return, so she bakes her a cookie once. Kathy, however, thinks it won't taste good, so she keeps the cookie in her desk. Three weeks later, she decides to eat the cookie, which is now stale and dusty, and as expected, she hates it. Kathy says that she was right about Allison's cookie, and that's why she hates her. Then the chapter cuts back to narrator, explaining that Kathy thought she had very good reasons for hating everyone in Mrs. Jewls's class, alongside a very good reason for hating the reader. Even though she doesn't know the reader, she knows that if they met her, they wouldn't like her either, and already knows she's right. The chapter ends with the narrator saying it's funny how someone can always be right and still be wrong.

## Characters

* Kathy
* The reader
* Mrs. Jewls
* Sammy (mentioned)
* D.J. (mentioned)
* John (mentioned)
* Skunks (debut)
* Dameon
* Allison

## Trivia

* This is the final time Sammy is mentioned until the cartoon.
* While according to this chapter Kathy hates D.J. because he smiles too much, in "D.J.," she is one of the students laughing and smiling with him.

## Gallery

Dennis Hockerman illustrationJulie Brinckloe illustrationAdam McCauley illustration
### Foreign editions

Peter Allen illustration (UK)Peter Allen second illustration (UK)Peter Allen third illustration (UK)Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan)