Louis Sachar (born March 20, 1954) is a children's book author known for writing the Wayside School book series, alongside a number of other books including the Newberry Award-winning Holes. In addition to writing the series, he is the inspiration for the character of Louis, and the Wayside School series is very loosely based on his personal experiences as a playground supervisor in the mid 1970s, with the first names of the students and rough descriptions of their appearance being used in the text.
Aside from writing the books upon which they are based, Louis Sachar had no active role in writing the cartoon. When asked by a fan, he has purportedly expressed distaste towards the cartoon, except the animation, he liked the design of Louis.[1]
Trivia[]
An image of Louis Sachar from 1978 that serves as the basis for many of his designs.
- Alongside being the inspiration for the character of Louis the yard teacher, many of Louis's illustrations take after the appearance of Sachar himself when the books were written, at which point he wore a floppy white hat and had a mustache.
- Most people pronounce his name differently. It’s supposed to be pronounced "Loo-is" "Sack-er.”
- The chapter, "A Package for Mrs. Jewls", was inspired by Louis Sachar getting a computer in 1984 to write the rest of the books in Wayside School series. Before obtaining it, he had written Sideways Stories from Wayside School with a typewriter and, instead of Xerox machines, he used carbon paper to make copies as it fit his image of "a writer".[2]