Kidnapped at Birth? Read online

  Marvin stood up. Jennifer smiled and waved to him.

  He walked through the door.

  Marvin watched the man unwrap a new needle. Then he looked away.

  If he didn’t watch, it didn’t hurt.

  The man stuck the needle into Marvin’s arm.

  Once it was in, it was okay to look. Marvin watched his blood flow out of his arm and slowly fill the tube. It felt weird watching his own blood.

  “Thank you,” Marvin said when the man was through.

  “What?” asked the man. “Oh. You’re welcome.”

  Marvin took his tube of blood through another door to the lab. He saw his number, 812, typed on the outside of the tube.

  He gave the tube to a woman with glasses, then waited while she examined his blood.

  She returned a short time later and handed him a new slip of paper. On it was written:

  812

  O negative

  Royal blood!

  10

  One in a Million

  “You’ll have to take another blood test,” said the woman with glasses. “You’ll need to give a lot more blood this time.”

  “Why didn’t they just take more blood the first time?” asked Marvin.

  “It’s a lot easier this way,” the woman explained. “We see about a thousand kids a day. Fewer than fifty are O negative. So this way we only have to do about fifty HLA tests instead of a thousand.”

  She told Marvin to go back to the front desk and get a new number. A yellow number, this time.

  He walked back out to the main room. It was still full of red-haired boys. They’re all exactly like you, Marvin! Linzy had said.

  Now, more than ever, he knew that wasn’t true. The proof was in his hand.

  He got on line to get a new number from Jennifer. A yellow number.

  “Eight thirty-nine,” called the man in the white coat.

  The nasty woman was leaving with her son.

  “Can’t you ever do anything right!” she shouted.

  “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” said Arnold. “I told you I wasn’t a prince.”

  “Shut up and get in the elevator,” said the nasty woman.

  Marvin thought about Mrs. Redpost. He was glad she wasn’t like that woman.

  He remembered the time she tried to teach him to ice-skate. She was worse than he was. They both kept falling down. It was funny. But they both learned to ice-skate—sort of.

  Marvin smiled as he remembered. They had hot chocolate afterward.

  He thought about Jacob and Linzy. He thought about the house, with the red post in front.

  Mr. Redpost painted that post once a year.

  He looked at the slip of paper in his hand.

  812

  O negative

  Then he suddenly remembered something. The King of Shampoon spoke with a weird accent! Marvin didn’t talk like that. So that meant he couldn’t be Prince Robert!

  “Marvin, you’re back!” said Jennifer. “So are you O negative?” she asked eagerly.

  “Uh—” said Marvin. He stuffed the slip of paper into his pocket. “No,” he said. “I just wanted to say good-bye.”

  Jennifer smiled at him. “I’m glad you stopped by,” she said. She held her hand out across the desk. “Well, good-bye Marvin. I mean—I was delighted to make your acquaintance … Prince Charming.”

  Marvin blushed as he shook her hand.

  His mother returned with Linzy and Jacob.

  “Hi, Mom,” he greeted her.

  “Mom?” she asked. “Does this mean—?”

  “Yes,” said Marvin. “Marvin Redpost isn’t dead.”

  “I’m sorry,” said his mother.

  “Yay!” shouted Linzy.

  He went out to dinner with his family.

  A week later the King of Shampoon left Washington, D.C., still looking for his lost son.

  Marvin felt sorry for him.

  He thought about all the red-haired boys in the hotel room.

  But he was different. Special. He was the one and only Marvin Redpost.

  Besides, he probably wasn’t Prince Robert anyway. The odds were one in a million.

  Don′t miss a single Marvin!

  The rumor is going around that Marvin is the biggest nose-picker in the school. Now everyone is acting as if the rumor is true! Even Marvin’s best friends don’t want to be seen with him. What can Marvin do?

  “Vintage Sachar—ingenious, funny, gross—and with a believable resolution.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Marvin’s the biggest nose-picker in the whole school.”

  —Melanie, Marvin’s classmate

  Marvin kisses his elbow by accident. Now he wishes he had pigtails and wants to play hopscotch! Everyone at school says that if a boy kisses his elbow, he’ll turn into a girl. Could Marvin be turning into a girl?

  “Sachar writes for beginning readers with a comic simplicity that is never banal.”

  —Booklist

  “There’s nothing Marvin Redpost can’t do.”

  —Stuart Albright, Marvin’s best friend

  Marvin’s friends think he’s the luckiest boy in the world when Mrs. North asks him to dog-sit for a week. He gets $3 a day, plus a $4 bonus if nothing goes wrong. And he gets to be alone in Mrs. North’s house!

  “Sachar’s finely tuned sense of how children think and feel makes his fourth book about Marvin and his comic misadventures entertaining.”

  —The Horn Book Magazine

  “Marvin’s going to use the bathroom in Mrs. North’s house!”

  —Melanie, Marvin’s classmate

  It’s “hole day” at school, and even Mrs. North and the principal are wearing their worst clothes. But now they’re expecting company—the president of the United States is on his way! And there’s no time to change!

  “The story hums along with its own cheerful energy, much like Marvin himself.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Good job, Marvin.”

  —The president

  Marvin can’t sleep. Suddenly something zooms across the sky. It looks a lot like Nick’s birthday cake! Could it be? Or is it something else? The next day there’s a new boy in school. His name is Joe Normal, but everyone thinks he’s weird. What is normal, anyway?

  “A smart, funny twist on the new-kid theme.”

  —The Horn Book Magazine, Starred

  “His name should be Marvin Stupid.”

  —Casey Happleton, Marvin’s friend?

  Everyone at school thinks that Marvin Redpost is going to ride his new bike down Suicide Hill. But not only is Marvin terrified of the steep hill, he’s afraid of his new bike! How can Marvin survive this one?

  “If Marvin says he’ll ride down Suicide Hill, then he’ll ride down Suicide Hill.”

  —Stuart Albright, Marvin’s best friend

  Marvin Redpost’s friend Casey Happleton lives in an old firehouse. But that’s not the only cool thing about her. She’s also got a super-secret magic crystal that she’s going to share with Marvin!

  “Lively dialogue and Marvin’s endless imagination command steady attention.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “You’re weird, Marvin!”

  —Casey Happleton, Marvin’s friend?

  About the Author

  Louis Sachar does not have red hair or royal blood. However, he is known for his incredibly funny books, including There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom (winner of sixteen Children’s Choice Awards) and the Newbery Medal-winning Holes. When asked if he remembers being in third grade, Louis admits that “it’s kind of a haze.” But he adds, “When I start writing, it all comes back to me.” Louis Sachar (rhymes with “cracker”) lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Carla, and their daughter, Sherre.

 

 

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