Genre
Children's Short Story Cycle
Setting and Context
At the Wayside School, which is being besieged by the eponymous cloud of doom
Narrator and Point of View
Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom is told from a third-person point of view; the narrator is unnamed.
Tone and Mood
Foreboding, Dark, Whimsical, Silly, Energetic, and Zany.
Protagonist and Antagonist
The kids (protagonists)/the dark cloud (antagonist)
Major Conflict
The students' conflict to remain grounded and upbeat despite the depressing cloud.
Climax
When the cloud moves away from the school and causes snow to fall on the school.
Foreshadowing
Jason devouring his book and finally finishing his book report is foreshadowed by Mrs. Jewls' nagging and by some of Jason's actions.
Understatement
The foolishness of some of the teachers (particularly Mrs. Jewls) is understated throughout the novel.
Allusions
Popular culture (Louis Satchar wrote the book as a way to deal with his feelings about subjects like the 2016 Election of Donald Trump and global warming), history, mythology, and religion.
Imagery
Throughout the book, Louis Satchar uses intense and dark imagery to illuminate the profound effect the cloud had on the staff and students of the Wayside school.
Paradox
Despite it being physically impossible with the number of students that she has, Mrs. Jewls insists on collecting a million toenails.
Parallelism
Each chapter typically focuses on a different kid, whose story is paralleled with other children mentioned in the novel.
Metonymy and Synecdoche
N/A
Personification
The cloud is personified in the book and is portrayed as "churning" on its inside.
