Alone In His Teacher's House (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
This is the fourth book in the Marvin Redpost series. It is a dramatic tale that shows Marvin being responsible for taking care of his teacher's dog while she is away and his experiences with the substitute teacher. I appreciated that this book gave me an opportunity to talk with our girls about the fact that there will be teachers, bosses, and coworkers who just don't like them or they won't like. And Marvin seemed to be on the substitute's bad side no matter what he did. He handled it well and I advised our girls that they needed to be as hard-working and respectful as they could and to realize that the relationship would likely end fairly quickly. I didn't like that the teacher took Marvin to her house alone in her car and gave him such a big responsibility, which obviously makes him a target for his classmates, as a 'teacher's pet.' Marvin once again handles it well, but my husband was sure to caution our girls never to get in a teacher's car, no doubt thinking of a potential for abuse. Overall, I thought this was a much more serious and dramatic story than the first three books in the series. (view spoiler)[I have to admit that I was shocked when Waldo died. (hide spoiler)]
a fun, easy read - great for kids of all agesVery relatable story about a boy who has the responsibility of caring for his teacher's dog while she's out of town. Marvin does everything right - but (spoiler alert!..... The old dog dies on Marvin's watch). Weaves in funny dialogue between kids in school, with teachers, etc. The story seems like it could go very badly when the teacher returns home (how many books have teachers and other adults behaving in negative, irrational ways?) - but in this story the adults are reasonable, helpful, and understanding. A good book for a few laughs, along with some real-life emotions and some good modeling about taking responsibility seriously.
What do You think about Alone In His Teacher's House (1994)?
Apart from the Wayside School series, Louis Sachar wrote the Marvin Redpost chronicles, which I found the former is more attractive. Marvin Redpost is asked to look after an old puppy called Waldo in Mrs. North's house for five days. It's good to earn extra pocket money for watching the dog. However the old dog died at last and he's just there all by himself. It looked like the teacher will never speaks to him again when her vocation is over. Yet it turns out that the teacher is very understandi
—Carol
Definitely not what I expected. I imagined a fun romp around the teacher's house. Well, Marvin has been given the task of taking care of the teacher's dog while she is on vacation and the dog is really really really old......well, you can guess the rest. I was hoping Sachar would not go there, but he did.
—ABC
When Marvin's teacher, Mrs. North takes a one week vacation, his teacher chooses him to take care of her dog, Waldo while she was gone. She chose him specifically because he was very responsible. Marvin's friends, Nick and Stuart thought that he was the most unluckiest person in the whole world. Mrs. North was planning to pay Marvin three dollars a day and also a four dollar bonus if nothing goes wrong. One day, when Marvin entered Mrs. North's house, he could not find Waldo. Eventually Marvin found Waldo lying under Mrs. North's bed. Marvin immediately called a vet. The vet informed Marvin that Waldo is dead. When Mrs. North's one week vacation was over and Marvin was back at school, they both had a talk in the hallway when school began. Mrs. North told Marvin that Waldo was an old dog. So she sort of anticipated there was something that was going to wrong. She still paid Marvin the twenty-one dollars plus the four dollar bonus. Then his friends told him that he was the luckiest person in the world.
—Barney
