Louis

*For information on this character in the cartoon, see Louis (cartoon).*

 — Narration in "A Package for Mrs. Jewls"

* Heitz
* McCauley
* Schick
* Brinckloe
* Hockerman

**Louis** is a major character from the *Wayside School* books. He is the school's "yard teacher," meant to pass out balls during lunch and recess and make sure the students don't kill each other, though he also appears to work various other tasks at the school, like cleaning up messes in the kitchen, ridding the school of cows, and rolling out the gong for Mr. Kidswatter to ring at the end of each day. He is named after and based on the author, Louis Sachar, and is the author of the books in-universe.

## Appearance

In the books, Louis is primarily noted as having a large red face and a mustache of many colors. In "Way-High-Up Ball," he is stated to have a hairy arm.

As Mr. Louis, his mustache is shaved, his hair is combed, his fingernails are cleaned, he wears a tie, and his shirt is tucked in. Whenever his face turns even redder, the skin where his mustache was turns purple.

## Personality

Louis is a character shown to have a heavy dedication towards helping the students. Frequently, the students go to Louis whenever they have a problem that needs solved, such as in "Mrs. Gorf," when Mrs. Gorf is transformed into an apple, or "Pigtails," when Paul is hanging tightly from a brick on the thirtieth story. Louis often invests himself into the child's problems, often partaking in whatever they need help with, such as in "Ron," when he decides to play kickball with Ron against Terrence, or in "She's Back!" when he follows Deedee to the monkey bars when she sees Mrs. Gorf there. In "Push-Downs," he is shown to encourage Stephen when he's feeling nervous, showing that he cares for the personal problems of various students. Louis often acts humorously around the students, joking in "Deedee" that he always wanted to be friends with a dead rat when Deedee disguises herself as one, and telling Leslie he's willing to buy her toes in "Leslie." Louis likes all the kids at Wayside School, but seems to favor those in Mrs. Jewls's class.

In the past, Louis was a troublemaker, as revealed in "The Blue Notebook." As such, he frequently became a target of Mrs. Drazil, who would put a wastepaper basket on his head, and later make him shave his mustache. Louis oftentimes lets the opinion of others get the best of him, as seen in "Mr. Poop," when he abandons his usual fun-loving personality and becomes the more strict "Mr. Louis" in hopes that Mrs. Drazil won't be mad at him. In "Flowers for a Very Special Person," he ends up failing at his usually talented athletic skill due to being distracted by Miss Wendy Nogard and her opinion of him. Louis is typically a very hard worker, often pushing himself through excruciating tasks in order to assist others. Between "Wayside School Is Falling Down" and "Explanation," he spends two-hundred forty-three days ridding the school of cows, motivating himself by thinking about all the poor students stuck in terrible schools.

Louis seems to express a small level of confusion regarding Wayside School himself, as he seems to be unaware of the nonexistent nineteenth story in "Calvin" and is surprised to hear the students in Mrs. Jewls's class booing when he brings in a computer in "A Package for Mrs. Jewls." Louis tries to be fair whenever possible, even extending it to being fair to the letter "Q" when he realizes he forgot to write it into a problem in the *Sideways Arithmetic* series. When necessary, Louis will deliver retribution to misbehaving students, such as in "Terrence," when he kicks Terrence over the fence after he kicks all the balls over the fence. Occasionally, Louis will try to keep the students happy, such as in "Deedee" when he tries to sugar-coat the fact that Deedee is stuck with the yellow ball, though he'll be blunt and honest when necessary, such as in "Ron" when he questions why Ron likes to play kickball so much when he's a terrible athlete. Louis himself is very athletic, as shown when he manages to score two home runs in "Ron," throw the ball very high in "Way-High-Up Ball," and purportedly can jump-rope blindfolded, according to "Mr. Poop." When he messes up in "Flowers for a Very Special Person," it is stated to be uncharacteristic of him.

## Relationships

### Mrs. Jewls

In the books, Louis frequently helps assist Mrs. Jewls and her classroom. In "Louis," Louis walks up to the class to read them a story, though Mrs. Jewls is slightly upset, believing his story about a normal school is fiction. In "A Package for Mrs. Jewls," Louis works hard to get a package to Mrs. Jewls's class, worrying the students will hate to be interrupted when learning. In "The Little Stranger," Louis helps Mrs. Jewls by bringing supplies for her new baby Mavis Jewls, while in "Santa Claus" he dresses as Santa to spread Christmas cheer. Mrs. Jewls occasionally returns the favor to Louis, such as in "Dameon," where she invites him to the classroom to see a movie.

### Mrs. Drazil

After several years, Mrs. Drazil continues to have a major impact on Louis's past. In "She's Back!," Louis is briefly paralyzed after remembering her, while in "An Elephant in Wayside School," he freezes upon seeing her, and continues to obey her commands starting with "Mr. Poop." In the past, Louis was supposedly very cruel to Mrs. Drazil, often doing terrible things to her like putting a frog in her shoe, though when explaining it to Mrs. Jewls's class, he makes it appear as though Mrs. Drazil punished him for no reason. Louis is very obedient to Mrs. Drazil out of fear, dropping his entire fun-loving personality and mustache in hopes of appeasing her.

### Miss Wendy Nogard

When Louis initially hears about Miss Wendy Nogard from Bebe, he is initially intrigued, and quickly develops a crush on her. By "Way-High-Up Ball," he joins the students at a round of Way-High-Up Ball in an attempt to impress her. However, Louis can't help but feel that Miss Nogard is a bit above him, both metaphorically and literally. In "Flowers for a Very Special Person," Louis tries to pick flowers to give to Miss Nogard, but gives them to Mr. Kidswatter instead to divert attention. By "The Little Stranger," however, he finally confesses his love, and Miss Nogard, having the bitterness removed from her heart, falls in love in return. In "Jump Rope Arithmetic," it is stated that she is his favorite substitute teacher, and he turns Joy's rope with her.

### Deedee

While Louis has interacted with almost every student in Mrs. Jewls's class on many occasions, he is seen interacting most with Deedee. In "Deedee," Deedee tries to get a green ball or red ball from Louis, but Louis can only give her the dysfunctional yellow ball. He attempts to sugar-coat it by saying everyone else wanted the yellow ball, and he saved it specifically for her, but Deedee is unconvinced. By the end of the chapter, Deedee, who is disguised as a dead rat to get out of Mrs. Jewls's class, refers to him as her best friend, and Louis is glad, joking that he always wanted to be friends with a dead rat. In "She's Back!," Deedee tries to get help from Louis, worrying about seeing Mrs. Gorf on the playground. Eventually Louis helps explain the situation. In this chapter, Deedee holds Louis's hand for comfort, because she likes him. In "Teeth," Louis tries to explain to Deedee why he can't save a green ball for her, but Deedee remains upset. During Mrs. Drazil's arc in *Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger*, Deedee works hard with some of the other students in her class, mainly Ron, Jason, and Sharie to help get Louis back to his old self after he shaves his mustache to appease Mrs. Drazil.

### Terrence

Due to Terrence's unsportsmanlike behavior, Louis frequently has to punish him for it. In "Ron," Louis gets upset at Terrence because he won't share the ball with Ron, and makes him give him the ball if he won't share. In "Terrence," Louis responds to Terrence kicking all the balls over the fence by kicking him over the fence as well. In "Teeth," he sends Rondi to take care of him, and expresses frustration when hearing about him stealing Jason and Stephen's ball, and in "Lost and Found," he is seen chastising Terrence for tying Leslie's pigtails to the tetherball pole. However, Louis continues to be fair to the best of his ability, as in "Way-High-Up Ball," he opts out of a turn of Way-High-Up Ball so Terrence can play instead.

### Mr. Kidswatter

In "Flowers for a Very Special Person," Louis briefly diverts attention from his crush on Miss Wendy Nogard by giving Mr. Kidswatter flowers instead. However, he doesn't appear to like Mr. Kidswatter, as he quickly refers to him as a "maggot-infested string bean." Kidswatter seems to appreciate Louis, as he refers to him as being "like a son." He briefly questions Louis's insult to which he responds that he actually said "magnificent human being." Louis typically doesn't seem to hold Mr. Kidswatter to a high standard, explaining that he needs to be nice to the kids for them to be nice to him in "The Gonnnnng," and ending up surprised when he hears Mr. Kidswatter did something nice in "Push-Downs." Mr. Kidswatter, however, seems to appreciate Louis in return, as he says Louis is like a son to him in "Flowers for a Very Special Person," and regularly enlists his help to wheel the gong to the bottom of the stairs every day in "The Gonnnnng." In "The Gonnnnng," Louis and Mr. Kidswatter are shown to talk to each other routinely at the end of each day.

## Appearances

For a list of every chapter Louis is seen in, see here.

## Trivia

* Most depictions of Louis's appearance can be traced back to an image of Louis Sachar from 1978, when the first edition of *Sideways Stories from Wayside School* was published.
* Despite the books saying he has a mustache of many colors, every illustration depicts it as only one color.
* Despite supposedly being the author of the books in-universe, he is always referred to in third person. Also, in "She's Back!", he is unaware of the fate of Mrs. Gorf, but he apparently is in "Louis".
* Louis is one of the few characters that regularly eats Miss Mush's meals. It's implied that since he eats them so often, he's immune to their strange effects.
* Louis doesn't like turtles, because he thinks they are too slow.
* Louis is surprisingly absent from *Sideways Arithmetic from Wayside School*, unless the intro "Yard Teacher's Introduction" is counted.

### Other designs

Peter Allen design (British edition, 2004)*Wayside: The Movie* design (2005)Kim Jungseok design (Korean edition, 2006)Louis as he appears in the cartoon. (2007)Unknown illustrator (Traditional Chinese edition, 2008)Satoshi Kitamura design (Japanese edition, 2010)Bruce MacPherson design (*Journeys* textbook, 2014)Ramona Bruno design (Italian edition, 2021)
## References

1. ↑ "Strange Facts"
2. ↑ "Explanation"
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Gonnnnng"
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Louis"