Customer Reviews

Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Children that read at a third grade level will love to get their hands on this and any Marvin Redpost book. The book is easy to read with short interesting chapters and a story line that is a page turner for young readers. I taught third grade for 13 years and used this and other Marvin Redposts books to get young readers started to enjoy books that tell a good story. Read also THERE'S A BOY IN THE GIRL'S BATHROOM, by the same outstanding children's author.

Meet Marvin Redpost. He's an average kid with a nice, average family, but something has always struck him as odd. He has red hair and blue eyes while the rest of his family doens't. When the King of Shampoon comes on TV saying that his own son was kidnapped at birth, is Marvin's age and has red hair and blue eyes, Marvin's friends easily convince him that HE, Marvin Redpost, is really the prince of Shampoon! What ensues afterwards is pure Sachar (and therefore, quite a good bit of fun!).

Louis Sachar has given us some fantastic works, including "Sideways Stories from Wayside School" and the John Newberry Medal winner, "Holes". For more beginning/intermediate readers he now gives us the Marvin Bedpost saga ("Kidnapped at Birth" is the first of 4 books in the series). Sachar's style is always funny and realistic and his characters are human and warm. The realistic pencil drawings by Neal Hughes add a lot of realism to the story without making it cartoonish. Get a copy and begin your adventures with Marvin-- uh, I mean, Prince of Shampoon!!

I really like this book called Marvin Redpost: Kidnapped at Birth. Marvin is a 9 year old boy who is always getting in trouble. In this story Marvin is kidnapped by strangers. Marvin tries to get to mom and dad, who are the King and Queen. Marvin said he had the wrong family. Louis Sachar is the author. I like this book because it is sometimes funny and sometimes it has really cool pictures. Sometimes Marvin books are hard and sometimes they are easy. It is the right book for me and it is good for the other 3rd grade also.

My son is not a strong reader, dislikes reading immensely, and can usually get through only three or four pages of a book before he starts complaining to stop. However, he wouldn't put this book down - he read all 67 pages over the course of an afternoon without stopping, and then immediately began a report on the book. (He had already read a book for a book report; the report was complete, but he liked this book so much that he started over.)

Furthermore, he asked for the rest of the series! Multiple firsts; thank you, Louis Sachar.

A charming story whose implications are deep. As you have read above young Marvin realizes, with both pride and dismay, that he _must be_ the lost Prince. There are two messages in this book. The more obvious one is that Marvin realizes that whether or not his family is his biological family, they are his _real_ family. The second, and to me more important one, is his behavior throughout--always polite and charming. He may not be a prince by blood, but he is surely a prince in his bearing.

I liked this book. It was creative. Marvin Redpost thought he was the King of Shampoon. I think this book is funny.

Marvin is a boy with red hair and blue eyes, in a family where everyone else has brown eyes and brown hair. Marvin is a nice boy, who is nine-years-old. Nick and Stuart are his best friends. We also get to meet Marvin's brother and sister, Jacob and Linsy.
Marvin has a problem, a big problem. After careful consideration, Marvin thinks he might be Prince Robert, son of the King of Shampoon. How might this happen? Marvin comes up with several different ideas. What should he do? Marvin begins by telling his friends and teacher, who are surprised by his announcement. Marvin then tells his parents who are supportive.
Marvin must go to take a blood test to see if he is O-, just like the King of Shampoon. Along the way, both Marvin and the reader learn about the love and support of family, and how friends can respond in different ways. You'll have to read the book to learn the details and find out what happens.

Written at the 2nd Grade level, this is the sort of book that young children like. However, I was less than enthusiastic about this particular book in the Marvin Redpost series because it just seems creepy to my adult-mind that the story repeatedly referred to dead children.

I realize kids won't think of the references like I do, but this is my review and in this particular case, my personal feelings. And here are some examples of text that bothered me.

Quote::: "We just have to figure out a way to tell the King," said Stuart. "And you can't let your parents know. If they're the kidnappers, they'll kill you for sure."

Also,

Quote::: "I don't know if my son is alive or dead," said the King. (His son was kidnapped at birth and he was on the news letting people know that he had never given up looking for his child.)

and,

Quote::: "So parents just keep taking home the wrong babies from this hospital?" asked Mrs. North.
"The real Marvin Redpost could have died," said Casey. "But then the people in the hospital discovered they had this extra baby...."

and finally,

Quote::: Linzy burst into tears. "I love you, Marvin," she sobbed. "Don't be dead." (After Marvin announced to his family that he was the King's son and that their real sibling and child was no doubt dead.)


I wish I could say that this was the extent of the talk about murder and death, but it isn't. It's probably mentioned three or four other times, and like I said, I found it creepy. I also wasn't all that thrilled about the reference to leaving a baby in a garbage bin.

Quote::: "I bet that's it!" said Nick. "The kidnappers left you in a garbage bin. Then a policeman found you and took you to an orphanage. And then Mr. and Mrs. Redpost adopted you."


Talking Points:::
At our school this is one of the series that the 2nd Graders have read to them. However, not this particular book and I think I know why. I found it just a little creepy... but perhaps that's just my mom-sensibilities.

Pam T~

It was really neat, I would present it to all who belive in imaginatio

Reason for Reading: Son read aloud to me as his reader. This was his very first proper chapter book with one b/w drawing per chapter.

At a reading level of 1.9, this was a very good choice for my son's first chapter book. He did very well with the reading and was not intimidated with the full pages of text or infrequent b/w drawings. I have never read a Marvin Redpost book before and thought it was a fun story of a boy who reads in the paper that a King is coming to town searching for his lost son who was kidnapped at birth. Marvin just happens to match all the physical descriptions and since he's the only redhead in his family he thinks he may just be the missing Prince of Shampoon, so he goes through the procedures to find out if he is indeed really a Prince. A funny story. Ds did very well reading it, though he still needs sufficient help that he could not read a book like this on his own. Ds says he did not like the book at all, but he may be just in one of his moods as he didn't complain while reading it and certainly seemed to be enjoying the story as he read. But anyway, he's said he does not want to read anymore Marvin Redpost books. I would, if I had someone else to read them too. LOL. Maybe one day I'll set out to read all Louis Sachar's books, I've hardly read anything by him.