Louis Sachar meant to be a lawyer before writing 'Holes,' 'Sideways Stories from Wayside School'

New York Post

2 days ago

Louis Sachar really intended to be a lawyer.
But, in between starting law school at the Hastings College of Law in 1977 and graduating in 1980, he published his first book, 'Sideways Stories from Wayside School.'
The zany, often surreal compendium of classroom antics went on to become a young adult classic, spawning a four-book series and a TV show.
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4 Louis Sachar, the acclaimed writer of young adult books, intended to be a lawyer.
Alex Labry
'I kept thinking, 'Boy, I really need to get a law job,'' Sachar, 71, told The Post in his soft-spoken West Coast drawl.
To date, 'Wayside' has sold over 15 million copies, according to Publishers Weekly, and it's never been out of print since it was first published in 1978, save for a brief period after the original Chicago-based publisher folded.
While the debut is a clear fan favorite, the East Meadow, Long Island-native's most acclaimed book is 1998's 'Holes.'
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The story of a boy who is wrongly accused of theft and sent to a juvenile detention center in Texas won a National Book Award and a Newbery Medal, and Sachar adapted it into a Disney movie that grossed over $70 million.
Now the 71-year-old, who lives in Newport Beach, Calif., is attempting something new: his first novel for adults, 'The Magician of Tiger Castle,' out Aug. 5th.
It's a Renaissance-era fantasy story starring a spunky princess named Tullia and her fatherly court magician, Anatole, who uses every trick he knows to help her escape a forced marriage.
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4 His new novel is the first book he's written for adults.
Here, he talks to The Post about his storied 50-year writing career.
What gave you the idea for 'Sideways Stories from Wayside School'?
I was going to college at Berkeley, I was a senior, and I just needed a course to take to fill out my schedule. There was this little girl standing in the middle of the Berkeley quad handing out sheets of paper saying 'Help, we need teacher's aids at our school! Earn 3 units of credit.' I thought, well, that sounds easy and could be fun. And I really had no interest about kids at that time, I was trying to get through college. It turned out I ended up being assigned to this 3rd grade classroom and I'd go for an hour every day and I just loved it. It became my favorite thing to do. Then I got hired to be what they called their noontime supervisor and the kids all called me 'Louis the Yard Teacher' [who is a character in 'Wayside.'] So I thought I'd try writing a children's book after I graduated college and left the school. I never thought I'd continue writing more.
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4 'Holes,' which is set in a juvenile detention facility, is Sachar's most acclaimed book.
The Wayside School books are funny and light, but the subject matter of 'Holes' is more serious. What inspired that book?
I had written, I think, 16 books by then, and they were all about kids in school, and I just didn't want to write about kids in school anymore. And I got the idea of kids in a juvenile correctional facility, and I thought, 'kids will love reading about that.' I had moved to Texas from San Francisco, which was a big change both in culture and temperature, and just trying to plant a bush in my backyard, just digging a hole was a lot of work. I guess that's where I got the idea that the kids are digging holes out in the heat.
What did your daughter [Sherre, now 38], think of your books growing up?
She always had conflicting feelings about my books because all her friends in school were fans of mine. Her friends would say, 'Oh, your dad is Louis Sacher.' And she always didn't know if they liked her for her or because I was her father. Or she would get good grades — I didn't know this at the time, I found it out later — when her teachers would tell her she was a good writer, she thought it was just because she was my daughter that they were telling her that.
What made you want to write a book for adults at this stage of your career?
4 Sachar's 'Sideways Stories from Wayside School' spawned a four-book series and TV show.
When I first started it, I thought it was going to be a young adult book. I figured it would teach young adults a little bit about the Renaissance. I chose Anatole as a sort of quirky narrator to tell that story. As I wrote and worked on it day after day, Anatole just kind of became the center of the story, and it's not a good idea to have a 40-year-old in the center of your book for young people.
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Any fond memories of growing up in New York as a kid?
My dad worked in the Empire State Building on the 87th floor. It was a real treat to go there. I remember him talking about how somebody, for like a $1 bet, sat on the ledge of the window. Somebody in his office sat there, legs dangling over the edge of the 87th floor. I thought, 'That's fun.'
Rachelle Bergstein is the author of 'The Genius of Judy: How Judy Blume Rewrote Childhood for All of Us.'