Stephen is a character in the Wayside School books and series. He is one of the many students in Mrs. Jewls's class.
Appearance
In the books, Stephen is a student with green hair. Presumably it was likely blond originally, but it was dyed green due to him swimming in a pool with too much chlorine. His regular outfit consists of a polo shirt and blue jeans. However, he often shows up to school in strange outfits, like in "Stephen," where he wears a goblin costume costume consisting of blue face paint, fake purple ears, his sister's pink dancing shoes, and a green leotard that matches his hair. In "A Story That Isn't About Socks," he wears a three-piece suit consisting of a gray jacket, gray trousers, and a grey vest. He wears a red and gold striped tie, and hard black shoes. The other students find this outfit silly, but he says it helps him look very important.
In the cartoon, Stephen has orange hair, and a round face with a small, pointy nose, large eyes with visible eyelashes, and large teeth that usually extend from his mouth. He usually wears an outfit consisting of a green, pointed hat with a bell at the end, pointed green ears, a long-sleeved frilly green shirt with a black belt, brown pants, and green shoes that curl with bells at the end. This is part of the elf costume he wore to Wayside to celebrate Halloween, but hardly ever takes off, aside from in "Rat in Shining Armor," where he wears a pink shirt with blue sleeves, blue shorts, white socks, and purple shoes with blue soles, and "Be True to Your Elf," where he combs his usually ragged hair, wears a light gray shirt and darker gray shorts, white socks, and dark gray shoes with lighter gray soles. When he becomes a "Super Elf" in "The Rat Truth," on top of his regular outfit, he wears red gloves, an orange mask with triangular eyes and a red backdrop, a black cape, and shoes with wavy ends and no bells as opposed to his usual curled shoes.
Personality
In the books, Stephen seems to be rather annoyed when people make fun of his outfits, as revealed in his chapter of the first book. He often finds himself to be somewhat of a class leader, especially after taking Myron's role as class president. He has an obsession for Halloween, which is played up greatly in the cartoon. He was the only member of the class that dressed up for Halloween, since the holiday was on a Sunday that year, and he thought the party would be on the Friday before.
In the cartoon, Stephen is a student with an excitable attitude who is obsessed with the weird, spooky, and paranormal, celebrating Halloween most days of the year, regardless of whether or not it is even close to the holiday. When forced out of his usual spooky persona, he becomes upset, as seen in "Be True to Your Elf," where he struggles with becoming "Mr. Normal" for a change. For the remainder of the episode, he tries to make himself "Mr. Normal," by attempting to give up everything he considers "spooky," and changing out of his elf outfit.
Major Roles
- In Sideways Stories from Wayside School, his chapter, "Stephen", focuses on him showing up to school in a silly goblin outfit, only for the ghost of Mrs. Gorf to appear, reassuring that since Halloween is on a Sunday, they must celebrate it on the Friday before.
- In Wayside School is Falling Down, a chapter called "A Story That Isn't About Socks" has Stephen show up to class in a fairly fancy outfit, only to proclaim that it has no other purpose than for standing around and looking important. He then ends up choking himself with his tie, hoping to look more important.
- In the cartoon, an episode called "Be True to Your Elf" has someone make fun of Stephen's elf costume, so he tries to become Mr. Normal so he can lead the parade.
Trivia
- Stephen is the last student to receive a chapter in Sideways Stories from Wayside School.
- Hair turning green from a swimming pool actually isn't a result of chlorine, but rather hard metals. Alongside this, it can be washed out, which doesn't occur when Stephen tries washing it in "Stephen."
- Despite being one of the few characters to have an abnormal hair color in the books, he does not have an abnormal hair color in the cartoon, despite so many other characters having strange hair colors. Most notably, Miss Mush and Elizabeth both have green hair.