Marvin Mallard and the Magic Medallion

By Jim Riva

Marvin Mallard is a flying-impaired duck who has managed to survive to adolescence because he’s very good at hiding in his surroundings. (At Duckmont High, he was the top student in Advanced Camouflage.)

Marvin has a good heart, but he uses bad judgment and often gets into trouble. His antics make him a regular at a detention center called the Quackery, where Principal Ruffledfeathers has tried in vain to reform the juvenile ducklinquent.

After getting into trouble again and violating the terms of his probation, Marvin is sentenced to three months of hard labor in the prison-state of Jugaloo—and then the action, fast and furious, begins.

With the help of the gopher Digger von Under and his fellow Frustrators who run the Secret Underground Railroad, Marvin makes a dramatic escape and winds up in Willavanna. There he learns the whereabouts of what had become his Holy Grail: a medallion that makes your mind very clear and helps you get wised up—if you have a pure heart.

Marvin wants to get wised up so he can stay out of trouble. When he finally gets the medallion, the first thing that becomes clear to him is that staying out of trouble is simply not doing anything bad. That, he realizes, is very different from actually doing something good. From this point on, Marvin becomes a mallard on a mission: to get wised up so he can do some good.

Loaded with wordplay and off-beat humor that will quack up adults as well as kids, Marvin Mallard and the Magic Medallion stresses the importance of honesty, with its main moral being that we should rise above blaming others and take responsibility for our own actions.

This chapter book also stresses the advantages of working together, for, in the end, the flying-impaired Marvin makes himself a deal (instead of a meal) with a visually-impaired eagle—that he ride on her back and navigate her so they can both fly wherever they want to go.

Eighteen spectacular, full-color illustrations fuel the imagination and help bring this delightful tale to life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jim Riva
• Release date: Aug 29, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005426910

Jim Riva

Jim Riva was the class clown in his boyhood days. He became a serious student of philosophy at the undergraduate and graduate levels before coming to the philosophical conclusion that the best outlook on life is to take humor seriously.An off-the-beaten-track world traveler who spent the better part of fourteen years in Japan, Jim has written nine novels that fall into the Humor category and more than thirty-five audio sketches that are on The Champion of Reason Podcast.He lives and laughs (and continues to write) in Oregon with his Japanese wife and their daughter.

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Marvin Mallard and the Magic Medallion

Published by Soaring Sparrow Press at Smashwords

Copyright 2004, Jim Riva

Illustrated by Sharyl Steinmark

Cover art by Sharyl Steinmark

Cover design by Satoshi Uegaki

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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I wrote this story for my daughter, Juliáe.

MARVIN MALLARD AND THE MAGIC MEDALLION

BEFORE THE BOARD

In the state of Forngle, there was a detention center for ducks called the Quackery. The principal was a goose. Her name was Virginia Ruffledfeathers, but the ducks at the Quackery called her Honkalot behind her back.

In her office at the Quackery, Principal Ruffledfeathers was checking the Into Trouble section of the Forngle Daily News. She wanted to see if any of the ducks she had tried to reform had gotten into trouble. She came across one, Marvin Mallard, who got caught scaring the chickens in Chickenville while dressed up like a fox. Oh, that Marvin, she said. If he could just stand up for himself and resist peer pressure, he’d be a great duck. He’s got a good heart. But if he keeps getting into trouble, the Forngle Board is going to sentence him to do hard labor in Jugaloo.

The Forngle Board was hearing cases now. Eight of the nine members were present: a chicken, a goldfish, a sheep, a parrot, a sloth bear, a frog, an ostrich, and a hippopotamus. Only a raccoon, who was sick, was absent.

Standing before the Board in wingcuffs was Ross Albatross, who got caught for the thirteenth time flying recklessly. The Board reached a quick decision. The sloth bear remained seated and said, We sentence Ross Albatross to three months of hard labor in Jugaloo.

No! No! Please! No! Ross pleaded as two police dogs took him away. The hippopotamus then shouted out, Next up, Marvin Mallard, who scared the chickens in Chickenville while dressed up like a fox.

Marvin was not in wingcuffs. They didn’t have to worry about him trying to fly away, for he was flying impaired. He had managed to make it to adolescence because he was very good at hiding in his surroundings. At Duckmont High, he was the top student in Advanced Camouflage.

Marvin’s trouble-making made him a regular at the Quackery, where Principal Ruffledfeathers often yelled at him, Marvin, do ya wanna get sent to Jugaloo and do hard labor? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya? Do ya?

Scaring the chickens in Chickenville is not what got Marvin into trouble. What got him into trouble was dressing up like a fox. Dressing up like other animals was allowed only once a year—at the Annual Forngle Masquerade Party. The prank was Johnny Armadillo’s idea, and Johnny was the front part of the fox until he slipped away and left Marvin holding the costume. It’s all Johnny Armadillo’s fault, Marvin said to himself as he stood before the Board.

Marvin, you’ve gotten just about all of the sympathy you’re going to get from us because of your disability, warned the frog. "Everybody says that you’re a good duck at heart,