School Daze Books in Order

The School Daze books drop readers into Plumstead Middle School, a brand new building full of kids who do not quite know where they fit yet. Instead of focusing on one hero, the series follows a small ensemble of sixth graders who keep colliding in the halls, the cafeteria, and, more often than they would like, the principal's office. Their stories mix slapstick embarrassments with the quieter stuff of changing friendships and first crushes. (encyclopedia.com)

In Report to the Principal's Office!, Sunny Wyler is furious that the new zoning has separated her from her best friend. Eddie Mott worries that he is a hopeless klutz. Salem Brownmiller wants to be a writer and is desperate for a story worth telling. Pepe Johnson just wants to survive the third grade bullies who seem to own the place. Each of them, in different ways, ends up summoned to the office of a principal who is as bewildered by the new school as they are, and their paths begin to twist together. (it.wikipedia.org)

Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole? finds Eddie, Sunny, Salem, and their classmate Pickles a little further into the year, but not much steadier. A locker room mix up sends Eddie racing back to class in superhero underwear, a humiliation that sticks as tightly as his nickname. While he fumbles through football tryouts and the endless teasing that follows, Sunny wrestles with cheerleading, Salem looks for a story that will help her friend, and Pickles throws himself into the school band. (jestressforgottenstories.com)

In Do the Funky Pickle, Eddie hatches a plan to win Sunny's heart at the school dance by unveiling a new move taught by his eccentric friend Pickles. The dance does get him noticed, but mostly by Angelpuss, a spiky haired girl whose boyfriend Weasel is the toughest eighth grader around. The near disaster that follows gives Spinelli plenty of room for comedy while also asking what courage really looks like when you would rather hide. (goodreads.com)

The fourth book, Picklemania, lets each member of the group chase a private mission. Eddie is determined to bulk up, Sunny wants the bullies off her back, Salem is trying to trace a mystery valentine, and Pickles is perfecting a strange new invention. Their schemes bump into one another in typically messy middle school fashion, leaving them with a better sense of who they are and how much they actually need their friends. (biblio.com)

Across the series, Plumstead feels like a real school, full of chatter, rumors, teachers who mean well, and kids who are still figuring themselves out. Each book stands alone, but reading them in order lets you watch Sunny, Eddie, Salem, and Pickles grow from strangers to a kind of chosen family, one embarrassing mishap at a time.