Books with title Up the Down Staircase

This book describes from the inside what goes on in a large metropolitan high school. With genuine warmth and shrewd comic touches, it shows what happens when a teacher's ideals run smack against the inadequate facilities, the lack of communication, the gobbledygook and pedagese, the trivia in triplicate - all that stands in the way of good teaching. It is a wise and witty book; funny and poignant and highly original. Nothing quite like it has ever been written.

Twelve-year-old Mary Hayes can't stand her orphanage. But when an attempted escape doesn't go quite as well as she'd hoped, Mary fears she'll be stuck in the Buffalo Asylum for Young Ladies forever. The very next day, a mysterious woman named Madame Z appears at the orphanage requesting to adopt Mary. The matron's all too happy to get the girl off her hands. Soon, Mary is fed a hearty meal, dressed in a clean, new nightgown and shown to a soft bed with blankets piled high. She can hardly believe she isn't dreaming! But when Mary begins to explore the strange town nearby, she learns a terrifying secret about Madame Z's identity. If Mary is not careful, her new home might just turn into a nightmare.