Todd

* Mererra
* Heitz
* Cartoon
* Allen
* McCauley
* Schick
* Brinckloe
* Hockerman

> All of the children in Mrs. Jewls's class, except Todd, were talking and carrying on. Todd was thinking. Todd always thought before he spoke. When he got an idea, his eyes lit up.
> Todd finished thinking and began to speak. But before he said two words, Mrs. Jewls called him.
>
> Narration in "Todd"

**Todd** is a character in the *Wayside School* books. He is one of the many students in Mrs. Jewls's class. While well-behaved, Todd was the first student to speak out loud in Mrs. Jewls's class without raising his hand. As a result, Mrs. Jewls keeps a close eye on him, leading to him regularly getting his name written on the discipline list and having him sent home early on the kindergarten bus.

## Appearance

In the books, Todd wears a green shirt. In "A Story That Isn't About Socks," Todd's "best clothes" consist of a pair of sunglasses and a Hawaiian flowered shirt. Aside from this, Todd's appearance isn't described, but he presumably doesn't have short hair, as Joy is capable of pulling his hair in "Todd."

## Personality

In the books, Todd is a generally optimistic student, appreciating his life at Wayside School and the people around him. While Todd often does get in trouble; he was the first student Mrs. Jewls caught talking out loud in class, so she keeps a careful eye on him, he still appreciates Mrs. Jewls, saying she's a nice teacher, and enjoying spending time at Wayside. Todd often is disappointed when he gets sent home on the kindergarten bus, because he wants to stay in Mrs. Jewls's class from twelve to two to see what happens. Todd is often a careful thinker, taking time to think before he says anything. However, he often forgets not to talk out loud, causing Mrs. Jewls to call on him specifically, in spite of the rest of the class often talking and screaming and fighting beforehand. Despite being optimistic, however, Todd does realize that he's not particularly lucky, as in "Todd," he understands that Mrs. Jewls sends him home early nearly every day, and in "Blame It on the Cloud," he is surprised when Mrs. Jewls acknowledges he has been well-behaved.

Todd is a student of fairly average intelligence, according to the books. He's a careful thinker and well-behaved student, often coming up with clever ideas, such as in "Deedee" when he assists Deedee with reaching the playground, or in "Todd," where he sends away two robbers by handing them Joy's workbook. However, he also considers himself "stupid" in "Dana," and according to "Todd" may not be able to read, or at least isn't particularly good at it.

Generally, Todd is a pretty friendly student. In "Explanation," most of the students in Mrs. Jewls's class are particularly happy to see Todd return, even ones he hadn't been seen interacting with in the past like Sharie, and in "Todd," everyone cheers when he leaves the class after he saves them from the robbers. Todd typically is even fine with people who are typically mean to him, as he says he'd appreciate having Joy as company on the kindergarten bus in "Jason." However, his friendly personality still has some limits, as in "The Best Part," he considers the "best part" of his dog toy to be when it bites Joy's finger, and he still wouldn't let Sammy ride with him on the kindergarten bus in "Sammy."

## Relationships

### Joy

 File:Todd Joy Todd.PNG  Todd is most frequently seen interacting with Joy, who sits immediately behind him, or in front of him, whichever is more convenient to annoy him. Joy often likes to play mean tricks on Todd, much to his annoyance, as first displayed in "Todd," when she repeatedly bugs him in an attempt to get him in trouble. At the end of the chapter, Todd steals Joy's notebook and hands it to a pair of robbers, so they can have the gift of knowledge and avoid hurting anybody. Todd jokingly bugs Joy when she has to start over in her notebook, but this causes him to get sent home early on the kindergarten bus. Later on, in "The Best Part," Joy at first isn't impressed by Todd's dog toy, but decides to steal it after he is able to erase his name from the discipline list. When she eventually gets her pinky finger bitten when the toy was turned into a man-eating wolf, Todd claims it's "the best part." In "Valooosh," Todd and Joy dance with one another, but it's likely that this isn't out of respect, as the dance class primarily consists of tripping each other over and throwing balls at one another. In "Time Out," Joy is seen talking with Maurecia about Todd, and claims that he is "stupider than ugly." In "The Bells of Wayside," Todd requests that Joy keeps the door open, but she doesn't, and in "Jump Rope Arithmetic," she pokes him in the back of his neck to see how well Maurecia is doing. Joy even occasionally unintentionally bothers him, as is seen in "Science," Mrs. Jewls isn't able to see him with Joy holding up both her arms and waving them in circles. In spite of all the negative interactions, Todd may not completely mind Joy, as in "Jason," he is glad that Joy is going to ride the kindergarten bus, not because she's being punished, but because he's looking for company.

### Mrs. Jewls

While Mrs. Jewls frequently punishes Todd for speaking out loud, Todd still appreciates Mrs. Jewls, and frequently refers to her as a "nice teacher." In "Mark Miller," the first thing he tells Benjamin is that he'll like Mrs. Jewls because she's nice, and in "The Best Part," Todd claims that's the reason why she let him go and gave him a Tootsie Roll Pop. Mrs. Jewls believes her treatment of Todd will help him learn, and supposedly does it for her own good above punishment, but may hyperfixate on him, because in "Mrs. Jewls," he was the first person to speak out loud in Mrs. Jewls's class. Mrs. Jewls still cares for Todd, as in "A Bad Word," she worries when Todd shows up to class late, and she even acknowledges that he is more well-behaved than the rest of the class in "Blame It on the Cloud." Todd has only been shown to disrespect Mrs. Jewls once, in "The Little Stranger," when he claims she's getting "a little boring" after she talks about the extensive process she had to go through after giving birth to Mavis Jewls. Todd does occasionally express annoyance at Mrs. Jewls's frequent punishment of him, and sometimes questions her teaching methods, such as in "The Ultimate Test, Day One," where he's eliminated from the spelling bee for forgetting the hyphen in "dilly-dally," but for the most part, he seems to think of her in a positive light.

### Deedee

Todd is likely friends with Deedee, as in "Deedee," he helps her out with her plan to get a green ball by helping disguise her as a dead rat, and in "An Elephant in Wayside School," Deedee tells her friends about Mrs. Drazil, as she talks to Ron and Todd. In "The Best Part," Deedee is one of the students complimenting Todd's dog toy.

### Maurecia

Todd seems to have a mixed relationship with Maurecia, as seen throughout the books. In "Maurecia," it is revealed that Todd is Maurecia's favorite flavor of ice cream, and that occasionally she would bite his arm to get the same flavor. In "Time Out," however, she refers to Todd as being "uglier than stupid," and mocks Joy for calling him "stupider than ugly," though this may be because she didn't want to admit to being friends with Todd in front of Joy. In "Guilty," when Maurecia looks for suspects to figure out who tattled on her ripping the dictionary, she considers Todd to be one of her friends.

### Jason

Todd is likely friends with Jason, as in "Mrs. Jewls," the two talk with one another after Mrs. Jewls figures out everyone in her class isn't a monkey. In "Pencils," Todd also offers Jason his book to eat, because Todd doesn't feel like working at that moment. However, the two are rarely shown interacting, so their exact relationship can't be confirmed.

### Mrs. Gorf

While Mrs. Gorf hates everyone in Mrs. Jewls's class, she seems to take a particular disliking towards Todd, as displayed in "Stephen," when she questions where Todd is after returning as a ghost. In "Mrs. Gorf," she transformed Todd into an apple after he defended John for helping a friend.

## Appearances

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

## Trivia

* In the books, while most of Todd's friendships are rarely elaborated, most of the students in Mrs. Jewls's class seem to like Todd, as seen in "Explanation," when everyone happily greets Todd after he returns to the school.
* According to a 2006 Scholastic interview, Todd is Louis Sachar's favorite *Wayside School* character. Although he admitted that it was hard to pick a favorite.
	+ This can be seen in the text, as Todd is the most frequently-seen student in the *Wayside School* series, with a total of 67 appearances.
	+ This also may be why he was chosen to be the main protagonist of the cartoon. However, this was likely a coincidence as the movie aired a year before the interview happened.

### Other designs

Todd Allen.PNGPeter Allen design (British edition, 2004)Todd as he appears in the cartoon. (2005)Todd Kitamura.pngSatoshi Kitamura design (Japanese edition, 2010)Todd Bitskoff.pngAleksei Bitskoff design (British edition, 2021)
1. ↑ "Another Story About Socks"
2. ↑ "Mrs. Jewls"
3. ↑ "Mark Miller"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Todd"
5. ↑ Scholastic interview