Discover the Weird and Wondrous Books of Holes Author Louis Sachar!

Sachar was born in 1954 and attended University of California, Berkeley. While in college, he volunteered at an elementary school, an experience that changed his life. As he says on his website: “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.”  It was shortly after he graduated from college that Sachar wrote Sideways Stories From Wayside School. The story takes place in at Wayside School; because of a construction mistake, the school is 30 stories tall, with one classroom on each floor. The story is about Mrs. Jewls’s class on the 30th floor.  The stories are unusual, including tales of Ms. Gorf, who keeps her students in line by turning them into apples when they do something wrong (the aforementioned Mrs. Jewls takes over after Ms. Gorf is accidentally eaten).

Sachar is also a prolific writer, with an impressive collection of over twenty-five book under his name including Johnny’s in the Basement, Someday Angeline, and There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom (fun fact: Sachar’s wife Carla was the inspiration for the counselor in There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom). Much of the popularity of Sachar’s books comes from their unusual composition and perhaps more importantly his knack for connecting with young readers; nowhere is this more evident than the novel Holes.  Holes tells the story of Stanley Yelnats IV, the fourth generation of a family cursed with bad luck. Sentenced to a brutal juvenile detention camp, Stanley quickly learns there is more to the camp than meets the eye. Each day he and the other juvenile offenders are required to dig holes, specifically five feet by five feet, but are not told why. Eventually, Stanley stumbles upon the truth and it involves a buried treasure, a murdered beau, and maybe even the redemption for Stanley and his family.

Sachar continues to delight young readers with his innovative mix of wild and wondrous prose and his latest novel, Fuzzy Mud, is available now.