Me and Marvin Gardens by Amy Sarig King (review)

Construction of several subdivisions on the field that Obe Devlin used to wander is bumming the sixth-grader out. He’s picking up trash out of the now-polluted nearby creek when a bizarre creature (some sort of dog/pig/tapir/amphibian-like thing) comes charging at him, fortunately not to eat Obe but to snack on the apparently delicious plastic bag he just picked up. A beautiful friendship is born between Obe, recently dumped by his best friend, and the creature he names Marvin Gardens, and Marvin’s plastic-eating provides a possible solution to the pollution that bothers Obe—until Obe realizes that Marvin’s scat is more toxic than anything the creature consumes. In this book for younger readers by well-known YA author A. S. King, the environmental message is mostly stripped of preachiness by Obe’s genuinely thoughtful, unassuming narration. His voice is deliberate and measured but still infused with humor and childhood wonder, and while he’s negotiating the waters of sixth grade with maturity, there’s an underlying anxiety both about the larger world and his place in it; King subtly sets up the parallels between the microcosm of middle school and the larger macrodynamics of society. She’s certainly nudging readers towards respect towards others and the environment, but she also makes it clear that it’s not always easy in practice—sometimes the apparent answer ends up pooping poisonous waste and now you’ve got a whole other problem to deal with.