Louis Sachar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Louis Sachar
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | March 20, 1954 East Meadow, New York, U.S. |
| Education |
|
| Genre | Children's fiction |
| Notable works |
|
| Spouse |
Carla Askew
(m. 1985) |
| Children | 1 |
Louis Sachar (born March 20, 1954) is a famous American author. He writes funny mystery books for young adults. He is best known for his popular Wayside School series and the award-winning novel Holes.
His book Holes won two big awards. It received the 1998 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature. It also won the 1999 Newbery Medal. This medal is given for the best American children's book of the year. In 2013, Holes was even ranked as the sixth best children's novel ever in a survey.
Contents
About Louis Sachar's Life
Louis Sachar was born on March 20, 1954, in East Meadow, New York. When he was a child, he went to Hebrew school. After high school, he went to Antioch College. Later, he moved to the University of California, Berkeley.
While at Berkeley, Sachar started helping at an elementary school. He worked with second and third graders. He also became known as "Louis the Yard Teacher." He said this was his favorite college class. It was a "life changing experience" for him.
How Louis Sachar Started Writing
Sachar finished college in 1976. He earned a degree in economics. After college, he began writing his first children's book. It was called Sideways Stories From Wayside School. This book is about an elementary school with some magical parts. The characters in the book were named after kids he knew at Hillside School.
He wrote this book at night for nine months. During the day, he worked in a sweater warehouse. After he lost that job, he decided to go to law school. Around that time, his first book was accepted for publishing!
Sideways Stories From Wayside School came out in 1978. It didn't sell a lot of copies at first. But young readers started to love his writing. Sachar finished law school in 1980. He did some part-time legal work. But he kept writing children's books. By 1989, his books were selling so well that he could write full-time.
Louis Sachar's Family and Inspiration
In 1985, Sachar married Carla Askew. She was an elementary school counselor. They live in Austin, Texas. They have a daughter named Sherre, who was born in 1987.
Sachar has used his family as inspiration for his books. His wife, Carla, inspired characters in two of his books. She was the counselor in There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom. She also inspired Stanley's lawyer in Holes.
In 2015, someone asked Sachar if he thought kids had changed. He said no. He noted that his first book, written in 1976, was still popular.
Louis Sachar's Books on Screen
Many of Louis Sachar's books have been made into movies or TV shows.
The Holes Movie
On April 11, 2003, Disney released the film Holes. The movie was very successful. It earned over $71 million around the world. Louis Sachar himself wrote the screenplay for the movie. He even had a small appearance in one of the scenes!
The Wayside School TV Show
The Wayside School series was also adapted. In 2005, an animated special called Wayside: The Movie came out. Two years later, it became a television series. The show had two seasons. It aired on Teletoon in Canada and Nickelodeon in the U.S.
Louis Sachar's Books
Here are some of the books Louis Sachar has written:
- Wayside School series
- Sideways Stories from Wayside School (1978)
- Wayside School is Falling Down (1989)
- Sideways Arithmetic From Wayside School (1989)
- More Sideways Arithmetic From Wayside School (1994)
- Wayside School Gets A Little Stranger (1995)
- Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom (2020)
- Marvin Redpost series
- Kidnapped at Birth? (1992)
- Why Pick on Me? (1993)
- Is He a Girl? (1993)
- Alone In His Teacher's House (1994)
- Class President (1999)
- A Flying Birthday Cake? (1999)
- Super Fast Out of Control! (2000)
- A Magic Crystal? (2000)
- Holes series
- Holes (1998) — This book won the National Book Award and Newbery Medal.
- Holes Special Edition (1998)
- Stanley Yelnats' Survival Guide to Camp Green Lake (2003)
- Small Steps (2006)
- Other books
- Johnny's in the Basement (1981)
- Someday Angeline (1983)
- Sixth Grade Secrets (1987) (also known as Pig City in the UK)
- There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (1987)
- The Boy Who Lost His Face (1989)
- Dogs Don't Tell Jokes (1991)
- The Cardturner (2010)
- Captain Tory (2011) (part of The Chronicles of Harris Burdick: Fourteen Amazing Authors Tell the Tales)
- Fuzzy Mud (2015)
See also
In Spanish: Louis Sachar para niños
