Mrs. Surlaw (book chapter)

— Narration

Illustrated by Tim Heitz

"**Mrs. Surlaw**" is the twelfth chapter of *Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom*.

## Synopsis

Jason and Allison check out books from the library.

## Plot

The chapter opens by introducing Mrs. Surlaw, who works at the school library located on the seventh floor. Her job is to organize all the books in the library by their number of pages, and not any other factor. There is a giant stuffed walrus in her room, larger than most students and some teachers. Kindergarteners are often afraid of it, until they touch its tusks and realize it's as soft as a pillow. Mrs. Surlaw is rolling her book cart along a row of bookcases, opening each book to the last page before sorting it. Mrs. Jewls's class comes rushing down the stairs, but everyone is shushed by Mrs. Jewls before rushing in. The kids remain quiet, scared of Mrs. Surlaw, before heading to check out books. Mrs. Surlaw listens to their conversations, and smiles, hearing how much the kids are enjoying the books they've been reading.

The books in Wayside School are not sorted between fiction and nonfiction, because Mrs. Surlaw is not one to decide what's real or not. Additionally, they are not sorted in alphabetical order. They are sorted solely by the number of pages they have, with skinny books on one side, and fat books on the other. Joy is checking out shorter books with 40-50 pages, since she's read everything that's shorter. Allison is looking for a longer novel to read, and settles on one with 232 pages. Jason, next to her, picks one that's one page longer. Allison repeatedly picks longer novels than Jason, and Jason always tries to pick one that is longer, but eventually Allison, annoyed, starts looking down the shelf, before dashing around a corner, while Jason struggles to put back up his book.

By the time Jason sees her again, she's hugging the walrus, meaning that she's finally checked out a book. Jason asks how many pages the book has, but Allison isn't willing to tell him, no matter how high he guesses. Rondi also checks out her book, and she and Allison leave the room. Jason tries asking Mrs. Surlaw how many pages Allison's book has, but the information is confidential. As Jason returns to the shelves, he still wants to pick out a book that's longer than the one Allison checked out, but he worries constantly that she picked a book longer than whatever he considers. He picks one with 510 pages, assuming Allison couldn't read more than that, but then wonders if she did. Jason rushes back, picking one with 573, but once again worries Allison picked one that's longer, and keeps on going. Eventually, to be absolutely safe, he picks the last book at the end of the library, which is 999 pages long. He hands it to Mrs. Surlaw, who says he'll have an excellent time reading it. Jason's not sure if he can even carry it. He checks out the book and hugs the walrus before he leaves.

## Characters

* Mrs. Surlaw
* Kindergarteners (mentioned)
* Mrs. Jewls
* Leslie
* Jenny
* Joy
* Allison
* Jason
* Rondi

## Trivia

* This marks Mrs. Surlaw's first named appearance, as well as her first major role. She previously appeared unnamed in "Allison."
* This marks the first and only appearance of potatoes in *Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom,* marking the final appearance of potatoes in the series.

## Gallery

Aleksei Bitskoff illustration (UK edition)