Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth? by Louis Sachar

Sachar, Louis. 1992. Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth?. New York: Random House.

Louis Sachar's first book in the Marvin Redpost series introduces us to red-haired, left-handed Marvin, his family, and his friends. Short chapters, believable dialog, and a main character who is smart and thoughtful, but still far from perfect, make the first Marvin Redpost a fun and engaging read. Told by his teacher, Mrs. North, that he is lucky to be left-handed because left-handed people are descended from royalty, Marvin does not feel lucky; he is worried. Marvin has just finished writing his current events report on the King of Shampoon. The King of Shampoon has red hair just like Marvin, and he is looking for his son, Robert, who was kidnapped the day he was born nine years ago. Marvin has red hair, although everyone else in his family has brown hair. Marvin is nine years old just like the King of Shampoon's kidnapped son. And now his teacher has told him being left-handed means he has royal blood. Is Marvin the long-lost Prince of Shampoon? Does this mean he will have to leave his friends and family to live in Shampoon and be heir to the throne? Neal Hughes full-page pencil sketches of Marvin in class, Marvin in his messy room with his best friends Nick and Stuart, and Marvin dealing with the class bully compliment Louis Sachar's narrative of the everyday life of Marvin Redpost. Published in 1992, children today might find parts of the plot, such as going into a hotel room alone to have a blood test, a little dated, but beginning readers will still relate to Marvin's day-to-day triumphs and tribulations as he learns that maybe fame and wealth are not what a boy really needs.