D.J. (book chapter)

Illustrated by Tim Heitz

"**D.J.**" is the sixteenth chapter of *Sideways Stories from Wayside School*.

## Synopsis

D.J.'s infectious smile spreads to all of Wayside School.

## Plot

The chapter opens by describing D.J. as having a huge, beaming smile, which he shows quite often because he is almost always happy. His smile is so big and contagious, that it makes other people smile as well, although they don't know why D.J. is so happy. He enters Mrs. Jewls's class, where Todd is glad to see him and smiles as well. Mrs. Jewls prepares to write Todd's name on the discipline list for talking, but is distracted by D.J.'s smile, and smiles as well. She asks what D.J. is so happy about, and he shrugs. Dameon looks at Mrs. Jewls's smile, then Todd's, then D.J.'s, and smiles himself. At this point, no one can help but smile. It is mentioned no one has an ugly smile. Jason is sad because he arrived to class late, but when he looks at Rondi's smile, he begins to smile himself, and falls on the floor laughing when he sees D.J.'s.

Eventually, everything in Mrs. Jewls's class starts laughing and smiling, including the usually negative Kathy and the room itself. Even the blackboard, ceiling, desks, chairs, floor, wastepaper basket, and pencils all seem to be laughing, as they all enjoy D.J.'s positive attitude. Once the laughter dies down, Mrs. Jewls asks D.J. why he's so happy, but he can't answer because his mouth is too stretched out to say anything. Everyone tries to guess why he's happy, but D.J. doesn't have an answer and keeps right on smiling. At recess, Louis decides to ask, and D.J. simply explains that there's no reason to be happy, as people don't need to have one.

## Characters

* D.J.
* Mrs. Jewls
* Todd
* Dameon
* Rondi
* Jason
* Kathy
* Blackboard (debut)
* Ceiling (debut)
* Desks (debut)
* Chairs (debut)
* Floor (debut)
* Wastepaper basket (debut)
* Pencils (debut)
* Deedee
* Ron
* Louis

## Trivia

* In the Tim Heitz illustration for the chapter, none of the students other than D.J. himself appear to be recognizable students in Mrs. Jewls's class.
* A "piano on face" usually just means a really big smile. However, in the Adam McCauley illustration, D.J. is depicted as missing the teeth next to his two front teeth, making him look like he actually has a piano for a mouth. It is unknown if he actually is missing those teeth as no other illustrations depict D.J. like that, he's also stated to have all twenty-four teeth in "Rondi" like the rest of the class.
* While Kathy is stated to enjoy D.J.'s smile in this chapter, in "Kathy" it is stated she doesn't like him because he smiles too much.
* The floor of the classroom laughed until the walls turned purple. This is similar to what happened to Jason's hair when he laughed in "Jason".
* This is the third time an inanimate object is anthropomorphized, the first being "Paul" and the second being "Sammy."
	+ However, this is the only time an entirely inanimate object is anthropomorphized. The dead rats in "Sammy" and "Love and a Dead Rat" were living at some point, while the potato salad in "Another Story About Potatoes" was shaped like Mrs. Gorf. The pigtails in "Paul" were just a hallucination.

## Gallery

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

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