Biography
Louis Sachar was born in East Meadow, New York to Robert and Ruth Sachar, and moved to Tustin, California when he was nine. He grew up in "a happy, normal suburban family," and though he enjoyed school, he did not become interested in reading and writing until high school, when he was inspired by the work of J. D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut.
After graduating from high school, Sachar attended Antioch College for a semester before transferring to University of California, Berkeley, during which time he began working at an elementary school to earn college credit. Sachar later recalled,
| “ | I thought it over and decided it was a pretty good deal. College credits, no homework, no term papers, no tests, all I had to do was help out in a second/third grade class at Hillside Elementary School. Besides helping out in a classroom, I also became the Noontime Supervisor, or "Louis the Yard Teacher" as I was known to the kids. It became my favorite college class, and a life changing experience. | ” |
Sachar graduated from UC Berkeley in 1976 with a degree in Economics, and began working on Sideways Stories From Wayside School, a children's book set at an elementary school with supernatural elements. Although the book's students were named after children from Hillside and there is a presumably autobiographical character named "Louis the Yard Teacher," Sachar has said that he draws very little from personal experience, explaining that "....my personal experiences are kind of boring. I have to make up what I put in my books."
Sachar wrote the book at night over the course of nine months, during which he worked during the day in a Connecticut sweater warehouse. After being fired from the warehouse, Sachar decided to go to law school, around which time Sideways Stories From Wayside School was accepted for publication. The book was released in 1978; though it was not widely distributed and subsequently did not sell very well, Sachar began to accumulate a fan base among young readers. Sachar graduated from University of California, Hastings College of the Law in 1980 and did part-time legal work while continuing to write children's books. By 1989, his books were selling well enough that Sachar was able to begin writing full-time.
Sachar married Carla, an elementary school counselor, in 1985. They live in Austin, Texas, and have a daughter, Sherre (b. January 19, 1987.) Sachar has referenced both his wife and daughter in his books; Carla was the inspiration for the counselor in There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom (1988), and Stanley's lawyer in Holes. Sherre, who was four when the first Marvin Redpost book was written, was the basis for Marvin's four-year-old sister.
When asked in 2006 about his plans for the future, Sachar replied, "I doubt I will write any more about the Holes characters.... I don't have any current plans to, but I imagine I will someday."
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