Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King

• Genre:  Fantasy/Ecological Mystery
• Grade Level: 3rd - 7th 
• Reading Level: 
• Length: 256 pages
• Publisher:  Arthur A. Levine Books (January 31, 2017)
• My Rating: 4 out of 4
• Readability: Great story, lots of ecological facts and a little mystery/fantasy
• Summary:
  Obe Devlin spends a lot of his time cleaning up the creek that runs through what little is left of his family's once extensive farmland, and worrying about what the developers are doing nearby, and the pollution it is causing--but one day he finds a strange creature by his creek that eats plastic, and soon the animal he calls Marvin Gardens becomes his personal secret, which he believes needs to be protected from pretty much everybody.
• Division 1 and Crossover

This book begs to be a spring read aloud for upper elementary teachers. The focus is on saving our earth from pollution and destruction by the hands of humans who are not taking care of our earth. There are also lots of family dynamics and growing up issues to discuss throughout the story line.

Obe Devlin, an eleven year old, spends lots of his free time picking up garbage along the creek of their rural home. However, land developers have purchased most of the land and are developing the area into a complex of homes. In the past, the Devlin family owned all the land but it was lost because of the grandfather's alcoholism and spendthrift ways.  As Obe is wondering, he discovers a dog/pig like animal that eats plastic. As he spends time with the animal he even names him Marvin Gardens after a place in his father's favorite game of Monopoly. Obe finds that Marvin Gardens has toxic poop which is burning holes into the ground and on the shoes of anyone who walks in it.  The boys in the development housing blame Obe. So, Obe turns to his favorite science teacher for help.