Illus. in black-and-white. Marvin's friends think he's the luckiest boy in the world when his teacher asks him to dog-sit for a week. He gets to be alone in Mrs. North's house! But pretty soon it starts to look as if Marvin is not so lucky after all...."

Louis Sachar was born in East Meadow, New York, moved to Southern California when he was nine, and now lives in Austin, Texas.??Louis's first book for children, Sideways Stories from Wayside School was accepted for publication during his first week of law school.??Although Louis graduated and passed the bar exam, he opted to be a full-time writer for children rather than a lawyer.Louis met his wife, Carla, when he was a visiting author at a school in Texas.??She was a counselor at the same school.??They have a daughter, Sherre.??Louis likes to play chess, cards, ski, play the guitar (and sing loudly), but mostly he likes spending time with Carla and Sherre.