Celebrated author Louis Sachar, winner of a National Book Award and the 1999 Newbery Medal for his novel Holes, is also recognized for his ever-popular story There's a Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, his "Wayside School" series for middle graders, and his "Marvin Redpost" chapter books for younger readers. Sachar's trademark is a humorous and realistic portrayal and exploration of relationships and feelings; his story lines characteristically chart the efforts of his various characters to discover and then assert their young identities. Sachar's male and female protagonists struggle and learn to cope with the world--with not a little help from the funny bone--just as Sachar himself had to finally decide his own true professional identity: lawyer or writer"

Born in East Meadow, New York, Sachar moved with his family at age nine to Orange County, California, at a time when orange groves were still plentiful there. He was a...