Is He a Girl? (6 page)

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

Louis Sachar
has never kissed his elbow and has never been a girl. But even though he now has both a wife and a daughter, Louis says he is
still
trying to figure out the secret difference between girls and boys.

Louis Sachar is the author of some of the funniest books for middle-grade readers and the winner of seventeen Children’s Choice Awards. His books include the Newbery Medal-winning
Holes
. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Carla, and their daughter, Sherre.