Louis Sachar born March 20 1954 is an esteemed American author of more than twenty-one educational and fiction books for children. He is most famous for the Wayside School series and the novel ‘Holes’.

1. Though Louis Sachar was a good student he didn’t start reading and writing until high school. He then discovered Kurt Vonnegut and J.D. Salinger who were his favorite authors and his heroes. E. B. White, Margaret Atwood and E.L. Doctorow were also his favorite writers.

2. After high school, he attended Antioch College in Ohio. His father died during his first semester and that made him return to California to be near his mother. During that period, he had a short but shockingly successful career as a Fuller Brush man. For those of you who are wondering what that means, he went door-to-door selling cleaning products.

3. Before graduation, as a student he taught at a local elementary school, an experience that inspired his career in children’s fiction.

4. He graduated in 1976 and decided to write a book for children, which eventually became ‘Sideways Stories From Wayside Schoo’l. He started writing when he was as young as 14. He was working in a sweater warehouse in the day and wrote in the evenings. It took 9 months to write the book.

5. He won a competition in his school for ‘who could make the best book’ the winner’s
book was then published as an official book the ‘Sideways Stories From Wayside School’.

6. He was fired from his job and he decided to study law in 1980s, he worked part-time legal work, also continued to write books for children. Only in 1989 his books began selling enough and he was able to stop practicing law, he then became a full time writer.

7. When he met his wife Carla the first time she was a counselor at an elementary school. She became the inspiration for the counselor in ‘There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom’ and Stanley’s lawyer in Holes.

8. His book Holes, won the most renowned National Book Award and the Newbery Medal. The book was an (ALA American Library Association) Notable book and ALA Best Book for Young Adults. The book won the 1999 Newbery Medal, in 2003 it was also made into a film. 8 million copies of the book were sold!

9. The success of Holes drew the attention of Walt Disney Pictures; he was invited to write the screenplay. He had never written a screenplay before, but he agreed to attempt and began his work on converting Holes into a movie.

10. He wrote ‘Stanley Yelnats’ Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake’ in 2003 and this time he made it on to the New York Times bestseller list.

11. He has also won the Boston Globe Award, Horn Book Award, Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book, Horn Book Fanfare, School Library Best Book of the year, New York Times Best Book Review, and the Notable Children’s Book of the year. Parents’

12. He gained the critical acclamation for his work in Pig City and Stories from Wayside. That’s when the fame began!

13. He enjoys playing Bridge (this makes an appearance in his book called The Card turner), skiing, walking with his dogs, tennis, chess, playing guitar, singing and spending time with his wife and daughter Sherre Sachar.

14. He writes not less than five to six drafts of each of his books and never talks about a book until he is finished.

15. In school all his teachers pronounced his name wrong, Louis Sachar is pronounced as Loo-is Sack- er!!!