A Package for Mrs. Jewls

Illustrated by Tim Heitz.

"**A Package for Mrs. Jewls**" is the first chapter of *Wayside School Is Falling Down*.

## Synopsis

Louis struggles when carrying a heavy package to Mrs. Jewls's class.

## Plot

This chapter opens with Louis looking at the schoolyard, only to be annoyed by how messy it is. The lawn is covered with pencils and sheets of paper. Even though he doesn't want to clean up the mess because it's not his job, he decides to do it anyway because he doesn't want the kids to play on a messy playground. However, he is soon interrupted by a short man with big bushy hair driving a delivery truck. He says he has a package for Mrs. Jewls, and Louis offers to take it, but the deliveryman notes he has to take it to Mrs. Jewls. Louis, knowing the long way up and how much the children hate being interrupted when they're learning, claims that he's Mrs. Jewls (changing his mind) and takes the package. The package is so large, he can hardly see anything, but fortunately, he knows that Mrs. Jewls's class is straight up.

The chapter notes that when Wayside School was built, it was built thirty stories tall, and Mrs. Jewls's class is on the top floor, and it's Louis's favorite class. He starts up the stairs, because Wayside School has no elevators. There are also stairs downstairs, to the basement, but no one goes there, because there are dead rats living in the basement. Even though the box is squished up against Louis's nose, he can still smell Miss Mush preparing her Mushroom Surprise as he walks by the lunchroom. He continues up the stairs, as sore as he may be, because he believes the package could be important. He makes it easily past Miss Zarves' classroom on the nineteenth story, since it doesn't exist.

At last, he reaches the thirtieth story and knocks on the door with his head. Mrs. Jewls was teaching her class about gravity when Louis knocked, and invites him to come in, but Louis can't because his hands are full. Mrs. Jewls asks who wants to open the door for Louis, and everyone raises their hands, because contrary to what Louis believes, they *love* being interrupted when they are working. Mrs. Jewls decides that they can hold a spelling bee to open the door, and everyone likes the idea. Most students spell different synonymous words than the ones given, but Mrs. Jewls is fine with that. Meanwhile, Louis feels his arms going numb until John wins and finally opens the door. Louis starts inside, but John wants to shake his hand, further delaying him from dropping the package. Louis briefly shuffles the box to one arm to shake his hand, then quickly grabs it with both again.

Louis asks where Mrs. Jewls wants the box, but Mrs. Jewls points that he can't put it down yet, because they might accidentally open the box the wrong way. So Mrs. Jewls stands on a nearby chair as she opens up the box, and finds a computer inside. The students get mad at this, noting that if the computer will help them learn and work faster, that means they'll get more assignments every day. Mrs. Jewls has Louis place the computer on the counter as he falls over, then Mrs. Jewls demonstrates how to use it. She pushes the computer out the window as part of her lesson on gravity, and the class watches it smash against the sidewalk. She thanks Louis, saying they were trying to work with pencils and paper all day, but the computer was a lot faster.

## Characters

* Louis
* Deliveryman (debut)
* Mrs. Jewls
* Miss Mush (mentioned)
* Miss Zarves (mentioned)
* Allison
* Jason
* Jenny
* John
* Eric Bacon
* Terrence
* Maurecia
* Todd
* Sharie (mentioned)
* Joe

## Trivia

* This chapter was inspired by Louis Sachar getting a computer in 1984 to write the rest of the books in Wayside School series. Before obtaining it, he had written *Sideways Stories from Wayside School* with a typewriter and, instead of Xerox machines, he used carbon paper to make a copy as it fit his image of "a writer".
* Despite Mrs. Jewls destroying the new computer in this chapter, which was even mentioned in another chapter, the class is revealed to have gotten multiple computers before "Guilty".
* A reference to this chapter is made in *Wayside: The Movie*. Mrs. Jewls throws the student's papers and Todd's desk out the window because they were teaching gravity. The desk was thrown out more than once even though they weren't teaching gravity anymore.

## Gallery

Joel Schick illustrationAdam McCauley illustration
### Foreign editions

Peter Allen illustration (UK)Hillar Mets illustration (Estonia)Unknown illustrator (China, Traditional Chinese)Satoshi Kitamura illustration (Japan)