Marvin and the Moths

"This ridiculous book," as the writers characterize it in their acknowledgments, is indeed madcap, but it's also, ultimately, an affecting reflection on friendship. When a science project goes awry, middle schooler Marvin Watson unwittingly creates a trio of giant moths -- Aristotle, Ahab, and Abraham -- who take to living in his attic and watching baseball games on television. He also creates a monstrous spider named Caliban, a "devoted disciple of the immortal Bard" and a "superintelligent poetic killing machine" -- who threatens life as they know it in their fair city of Butcherville. The corporation Pork Loaf International, purveyor of the world-renowned Pork Loaf Log Roll, is based in Butcherville, and there just may be a connection between their processed, shelf-stable meat product and the weird happenings about town. Caliban terrorizes Butcherville, and it is up to Marvin to rally his friends (which doesn't take long since he only has two, and even those are kind of iffy) to face up to his nefarious creation. Like Dr. Frankenstein, he has to bring down the monster he raised up. Though the initial catalogue of underwear humor, middle-school meanness, and pork-related place names is somewhat tiresome, the tale is meant as pure fun -- and it is, as readers witness a trio of outcasts bond while facing their common foe, with help from Marvin's unusually large lepidopteran houseguests. dean schneider

When a science project goes awry, middle schooler Marvin Watson unwittingly creates a trio of giant moths as well as a monstrous spider, Caliban, who threatens all of Butcherville, home of Pork Loaf International. Like Dr. Frankenstein, Marvin must bring down the monster he raised up. The tale is pure fun, as readers witness a trio of outcasts bond while facing a common foe.