Celebrating his birthday on March 20th, and an economics major and teacher's aid by chance, Louis Sachar's foray into the classroom inspired his desire to write children's books. A law school graduate, he practiced law part-time until 1989 when he quit to write full-time.

His work is created in solitude and he keeps very quiet about his projects until they are finished.

Some of his work includes Sidewalk Stories from Wayside School (1978), Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger (1995), and his extremely popular Holes (1999), for which he has won numerous awards, including the Newbery Medal. His most recent book is Small Steps, a sequel to Holes.