Description
Washington Post Best Book of the Year A New York Public Library Best Book for Kids A Texas Bluebonnet Master List selection
Obe Devlin has problems. His circle of relatives’s farmland has been taken over by developers. His best friend Tommy has abandoned him. And he keeps getting nosebleeds, on account of that thing he doesn’t like to speak about. So Obe hangs out at the nearby creek, in the last wild patch left, picking up trash and on the lookout for animal tracks.
Someday, he sees a creature that looks more or less like a large dog. And as he watches it, he realizes it eats plastic. Only plastic. Water bottles, shopping bags… No one has seen a creature like this before. The animal–Marvin Gardens–becomes Obe’s best friend and biggest secret. But to keep him protected from the developers and Tommy and his friends, Obe will have to come to a decision that might change everything.