Joe

*For information on this character in the cartoon, see Joe (cartoon).*

 — Joe failing to count in "Joe"

* Heitz
* McCauley
* Schick
* Brinckloe
* Hockerman

**Joe** is a student in the *Wayside School* books and cartoon. He is one of the many students in Mrs. Jewls's class.

## Appearance

Joe is a student with 55,006 curly hairs on his head, which is apparently more hairs than Dana has. He is shorter than Myron and Dameon. Aside from this, little about Joe's appearance is known.

## Personality

In the books, Joe is depicted as being a very talented kid, unbeknownst to himself. As shown in "Something Different About Mrs. Jewls," he is apparently fantastic at knitting, and in "Never Laugh at a Shoelace," he states he's been tying his shoes since he was two years old. Joe is most noteworthy for his confusing mathematic methods, as displayed in "Joe" and "Why the Children Decided They Had to Get Rid of Mrs. Drazil," the former in which he encounters difficulty counting in the right order, only to always end up with the right result, and the latter in which he is able to successfully multiply five by twelve by tearing a sheet of paper with a five written on it into twelve pieces. Despite his odd methods, his successful results have given him a fair amount of confidence in his skills, as he tells Mrs. Jewls he already knows how to count in "Joe," though in "Mrs. Gorf," he still cheats off of John's test.

If Joe realizes he is wrong, he can become upset with himself, as in "Joe," he worries that he'll never be able to count after noticing his mistakes. Joe occasionally misunderstands certain concepts, as in "John," he figures that he can help John realize how easy it is for him to stand on his head by standing on John's head himself. In "Dameon," he briefly thinks his pencil may actually be Dameon's because it matches the pencil Dameon described, and in "Why the Children Decided They Had to Get Rid of Mrs. Drazil," his response to Mrs. Drazil's question about how many cookies are in five dozen is "five dozen," until he is asked to solve the problem himself. In "Poetry," he rhymes red with "hurried," "wailed," and "screamed" after Mrs. Jewls informs him that it should rhyme with other words that end in "-ed." Often, Joe misunderstands these, taking his own approach rather than something more traditional. He appears to have some strangely specific talents, as his "special talent" according to "Stuck," "Breathe," and "Jump Rope Arithmetic" is standing on his head and singing "Jingle Bells," something that likely helped him during the upside down singing portion of the Ultimate Test.

Joe is likely not a very social student, as he only is shown to have one close friend, John, in the books. His relationships with his friends seems to be very dedicated, as in "John," he works hard to help John stand on his head, and the two are seen interacting with one another very frequently. However, he also seems to pick up negative traits from his friends, as in "A Giggle Box, a Leaky Faucet, and a Foghorn," "Poetry," and "Stuck," he joins John in making fun of Dana.

## Relationships

### John

    In the books, Joe's best friend is John, as revealed in "John," though the two are seen interacting as early as "Mrs. Gorf," where John lets Joe cheat off of his math test. In "Joe," John wishes Joe was at recess with him, and in "John," Joe tries to help John learn how to stand on his head, by standing on John's head himself. Joe and John remain friends in *Wayside School Is Falling Down*, where the two make fun of Dana together in "A Giggle Box, a Leaky Faucet, and a Foghorn" and work together to eat potato salad in "Another Story About Potatoes." The two quickly reunite after being separated for 242 days in "Explanation," and he also giggles with John at Dana in "Poetry," making her upset. However, in "Stupid," John gets mad at Joe after he misses a question on his homework, and the two may have briefly separated at that point, only to reunite after the events of "The Little Stranger," as by "Stuck," they are seen joining together to tease Dana again. In "The Unbreakables," their friendship is once again put under pressure by the Cloud of Doom, but it is likely that they've reunited since, as he two hold hands when walking down the stairs in "Kachooga Boop" and seem to eat lunch together in "Rainbow."

### Dana

Joe often joins John in teasing Dana, as shown in "A Giggle Box, a Leaky Faucet, and a Foghorn." As such, Dana does not like Joe, though she reserves more hatred towards John. Joe giggles with John after he teases Dana in "Poetry," making Dana upset. He additionally joins John in teasing her in "Stuck," when Joe laughs hard after Dana falls for John's joke. However, he does feel bad when Dana makes her Doofus Face at him and John. While it is unknown exactly how Joe feels about Dana, he presumably dislikes her enough to be willing to make fun of her on a somewhat regular basis.

### Maurecia

Joe and Maurecia seem to have a somewhat mixed relationship throughout the course of the books. In "Joe," Maurecia makes fun of Joe after learning he doesn't know how to count, and jokes about him being stupid, to which not only has Joe threaten to beat her up, but gets her a strike on the discipline list. However, as of "Maurecia," their relationship may have improved, as Maurecia seems to enjoy Joe-flavored ice cream.

## Appearances

For a list of every chapter Joe is seen in, see here.

## Trivia

* In the books, he was the first student Mrs. Gorf transformed into an apple. In the cartoon, it was Leslie.
* While Joe having 55,006 hairs on his head is treated as a lot, as seen in "Strange Facts," where it's mentioned he has more hair than Dana, who is stated to have long hair, 55,006 is actually below average, even for a redhead as Joe is depicted in the cartoon, as an average redhead has 90,000 hairs.
* Joe's favorite color is red.

### Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)Joe as he appears in the cartoon. (2005)Unknown illustrator (Traditional Chinese edition, 2008)Satoshi Kitamura design (Japanese edition, 2010)Unknown illustrator (Simplified Chinese edition, 2012)Aleksei Bitskoff design (British edition, 2021)
## References

1. ↑ "Joe"
2. ↑ "Strange Facts"
3. ↑ "Game Day"
4. ↑ "Poetry"