Small Steps Award-winning author by Louis Sachar (author) (UK edition)

Author/Illustrator

Louis Sachar

Louis is best known for the award-winning Holes, which has also been made into a major film.

More about Louis: “I was born in East Meadow, New York on March 20, 1954 and lived there until third grade. My dad worked on the 78th floor of the Empire State Building, and maybe that somehow inspired Wayside School, who knows?

I enjoyed school and was a good student, but it wasn’t until high school that I really became an avid reader. J.D. Salinger and Kurt Vonnegut were the authors who first inspired me. Some of my other favorite authors include E.L. Doctorow, Margaret Atwood, E.B White, Richard Price and Kazuo Ishiguro.

After high school, I attended Antioch College in Ohio. My father died during my first semester, and I returned to California to be near my mother.

I returned to college, this time to the University of California at Berkeley where I majored in Economics. On campus one day, I saw the unlikely sight of an elementary school girl handing out flyers. I took one from her. It said: “Help. We need teachers aides at our school. Earn three units of credit.” I thought it over and decided it was a pretty good deal.

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.

When I graduated 1n 1976 I decided to try to write a children’s book, which eventually became Sideways Stories From Wayside School. All the kids at Wayside School were based on the kids I knew at Hillside.

It took me about nine months to write the book. I wrote in the evenings. In the daytime I had a job at a sweater warehouse in Connecticut. After about a year, I was fired (my enthusiasm for sweaters was insufficient), and I decided to go to law school. Sideways Stories from Wayside School was accepted by a publisher during my first week at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco.

I finished law school, graduating in 1980, passed the bar exam (which was required to practice law) and then did part-time legal work as I continued to write children’s books. It wasn’t until 1989 that my books began selling well enough that I was finally able to stop practicing law and devote myself fully to writing.

My wife Carla was a counselor at an elementary school when I first met her. She was the inspiration for the counselor in There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom. We were married in 1985. Our daughter, Sherre, was born in 1987. We live in Austin, Texas along with our dog, Watson.”

Reviews

1. coririmmer
   on 12 January 2010

   amazing

   just from reading a little bit of the website its amazing up to now

   5 out of 5

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What kids think

1. emer2k14
   on 13 May 2014

   I am reading it in school it is quite a good book

2. bookaholic202
   on 7 March 2014

   It wasnt half as good as Holes. I wouldnt recommend it.

3. Nashdasher
   on 8 March 2013

   This is not as good as the first book but it’s still a great book.

4. TheMileLongBookshelfBlog
   on 6 March 2013

   this is extremely good

5. pawprint2
   on 5 March 2013

   I hated the ending and honestly I preferred holes

6. Sunshinesmile57
   on 27 November 2011

   I loved this book, it was a really good sequel.Love Armpit lol!

7. booksrcul
   on 28 July 2011

   This is the sequel to holes. It is kind of for teenagers I think because it involves a bit of violence, love nad band gigs. It is OK. I liked Holes better.

   3 out of 5

8. hjt36
   on 13 November 2010

   I have had it for ages but iv just not touched it i NEED to read it. I realy dont have a clue what it will be like.

9. Amileen
   on 31 March 2010

   I only read this because it was a sequel to Holes, its really good because its about the life of a side character from Holes, its really funny and imaginative too.

   5 out of 5

10. Stormydachshund
    on 2 March 2010

    My favourite character is Ginny. I loved this and I’d happily reccomend it to everyone.

    5 out of 5

11. pandas101
    on 31 January 2010

    I loved it. I keeped on wanting to read but we have read aloud every day 2,4,6. I hope there is a third book.

    5 out of 5

12. Booktastica
    on 17 February 2009

    This is a really great book. I really like Holes, which is another Louis Sachar book, too.

13. Demushka
    on 6 February 2009

    My sister and me are reading this book and I think that is briliant ! Eberyone read this book !

    5 out of 5

14. Queen-of-Light
    on 27 January 2009

    A brilliant book, it made me laugh till I cried. Lots of fun to read. It’s all about Armpit his good friend X-ray,singing,ticket-scalping and lots and lots of trouble.

    5 out of 5

15. okbooks
    on 24 January 2009

    i would like too read this book is it any good ?

16. kerry-bean
    on 11 May 2008

    I loved this book because it could actually happen in real life and it was so easy to relate to. Some of it was quite funny especially his name and how he got it .

    5 out of 5