Biography of Louis Sachar, the Author of a Widely Recognized Book Holes

Louis Sachar is an award winning author he is mainly recognized for his book “Holes”. "Holes" book won the 1998 U. S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature and the 1999 Newbery Medal for the year's 'most distinguished contribution to American literature for children'. In 2013, it received sixth among all children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal. He is also known for his wayside school series and many other great books

Sachar was born on March 20, 1954, in East Meadow, New York, to Robert J. Sachar, a salesman, and Ruth Raybin Sachar, a real estate broker. When he was nine years old, his family moved to Tustin, California. He was a good student and liked school. He always enjoyed reading books, especially those by E. B. White. However it wasn't until Sachar was in high school that he truly realized his love for reading.

After graduating from high school, Sachar enrolled in Antioch College in Ohio. Soon after classes began, his father died suddenly and Sachar returned to California to be with his mother. The following semester, rather than resume his studies in Ohio, Sachar enrolled in the University of California at Berkeley, where he majored in economics.

Sachar's love of reading continued. He developed a particular interest in Russian and read his favorite Russian authors in the original language. After taking over a year of Russian, he realized it was still Greek to him. he dropped out of Russian class and tried to figure out what class he should take instead. The idea to become a teacher came to him and he decided to do teaching for some time.

Prior to that time, Sachar had no interest whatsoever in kids. However, he signed up to be a teacher's aide because he needed to take something other than Russian, and it sounded easy. It turned out to be not only his favorite class, but also the most important class Sachar took during his college career. After he was at the school for a while, he was asked to be the Noon Time Supervisor. It was his job to watch over the kids during lunch. Working as a teacher's aide was a significant experience in Sachar's life, because it inspired him to write a children's book. At the time, writing was a hobby for Sachar; he never expected his work to be published.

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1976, Sachar moved to Norwalk, Connecticut, where he worked at a sweater warehouse during the day and began writing his first book at night. He was fired from the job almost a year later and decided to go to law school.

Sachar attended Hastings College of Law in San Francisco, California, and during his first week of law school, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, a book of short stories about kids who attended a thirty-story elementary school with one classroom on each floor, was accepted for publication. Since the publication of his first book he increased his focus on writing books and became the award winning author that he is today.