Books with author Frances O'Roark Dowell

Sam the Man is back with not one, but TWO plans in this third hilarious chapter book in the Sam the Man series from Frances O’Roark Dowell.Sam Graham is a dragon fan and a big truck man. Monster trucks to be specific. And when the family minivan needs replacing, Sam has the perfect plan: get a family monster truck instead! But convincing Mom that a monster truck is the way to go may prove to be a little too difficult, even for Sam. So he comes up with plan number two: Turn the minivan into a monster minivan with a super-cool dragon painted on it! First, though, Sam has to convince his family why a monster minivan is the best choice—oh, and learn how to paint a dragon…

An Edgar Award-winnerA School Library Journal Best Book of the Year Everyone in Indian Creek, North Carolina, is amazed that twelve-year-old Dovey did such a terrible thing. Even if she does tend to shoot her mouth off, she's mostly sticking up for her big brother, Amos, on account of his being deaf. If her sister, Caroline, hadn't let the likes of Parnell Caraway hang around her all summer, Dovey wouldn't be in this mess. Charged with murder, she might just have to keep quiet and let the city slicker lawyer handle things . . . or will she?An Accelerated Reader® Title

Houston, we have a problem! Phineas L. MacGuire (a.k.a. Mac) has a lot to learn about outer space if he’s going to be the best scientist in the fourth grade. To get the knowledge he needs, Mac is determined to go to space camp, but his mom says he has to earn the money himself. Houston, we have another problem: a gigantic, slobbery dog named Lemon Drop. Mac can earn the money he needs by walking Mrs. McClosky’s yellow Lab—but how will he survive the walks? Good thing Mac is a scientific genius with friends like Ben and Aretha. Together the three of them discover that Lemon Drop is no ordinary dog—in fact, the pup is a real-life “Lab”oratory.

Tobin McCauley’s got a near-certifiable grandmother, a pack of juvenile-delinquent siblings, and a dad who’s not going to win father of the year any time soon. To top it off, Tobin’s only friend truly believes that the study of chickens will reveal . . . the meaning of life? Getting through seventh grade isn’t easy for anyone, son, but when the first day of school starts out with your granny’s arrest, you know you’ve got real problems. Throw on a five-day suspension (for defending your English teacher’s honor), a chicken that lays green eggs, and a family feud that’s tearing everyone to pieces, and you’re in for one heck of a ride.With her remarkable ability to create characters you wish could be part of your life forever, Frances O’Roark Dowell introduces Tobin McCauley, Chicken Boy.

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PHINEAS L. MACGUIRE, BOY-SCIENTIST EXTRAORDINAIRE, AKA MAC: 1. He's allergic to purple, telephone calls, and girls, and can prove it. 2. He's probably the world's expert on mold, including which has the highest stink potential. 3. He does not have a best friend. He does, however, have an un-best friend, who he does not -- repeat, not -- want to upgrade to best-friend status. But disaster strikes when his teacher pairs Mac and his un-best friend together for the upcoming science fair. Worse, this un-best friend wants the project to be on dinosaurs, which is so third grade. Worse still, it seems as though everyone else in his class finds the un-best friend as unlikable as Mac does. But, being a boy-scientist, once Mac notices this, he just might have to do some investigating. This very funny young middle-grade novel includes tantalizingly grue- some experiments for exploding your own volcanoes and imploding marshmallows.