Poached

January 15, 2014
In this sequel to Belly Up (2010), 12-year-old trouble-magnet Teddy is still living at FunJungle, a massive zoo and amusement park, with his primatologist mother and wildlife photographer father. The shenanigans resume when the school bully, Vance, forces Teddy to throw a fake arm into the shark tank at FunJungle. This has a large-scale snowball effect that positions Teddy as the key suspect in the theft of Kazoo, a koala on loan from Australia. With some behind-the-scenes help from friend (and crush) Summer, Teddy sets out to prove his innocence and find the real thief. Amid red herrings galore, Teddy follows leads that reveal the turbulent underbelly of greed and grudge within the park's personnel. Teddy's struggle against the mounting evidence becomes a race to prevent Kazoo's imminent starvation. The ebullient romp is salted with animal facts, including the tidbit that koalas spend almost no time thinking due to the low nutritional value of their eucalyptus diet. Tomfoolery abounds, from vomiting tourists to a close call with the Toilet of Doom. Teddy delivers a knockout conclusion, coming to the understanding that the nature of the beast is not always what it appears. This thrill-ride of a mystery is chock-full of hijinks for middle-grade sleuths and budding zoologists alike. (Mystery. 8-12)

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March 1, 2014

Gr 5-8-Teddy "Roosevelt" Fitzroy is back after his adventures in Belly Up (S & S, 2010), and he is investigating a new case, despite the fact that all the adults in his life prefer he wouldn't. Billionaire J.J. McCracken's investment is losing money. In an effort not to go belly up, the latest FunJungle attraction is Kazoo, a koala on loan from the Australian government. When Kazoo goes missing, Teddy, who hid in the koala exhibit to escape Large Marge and her security detail after a prank, is the only one seen on security camera footage. "I would never have been accused of stealing the koala if Vance Jessup hadn't made me drop a human arm in the shark tank at FunJungle" muses Teddy in the first line of this whopper of a whodunit that delivers plenty of suspects, action, slapstick, gross bodily functions, red herrings, and animal trivia. This sequel stands alone nicely, and while the mystery is solved at the end, new occurrences promise to make Teddy's life much more interesting in a possible third book.-Brenda Kahn, Tenakill Middle School, Closter, NJ

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2014
Grades 5-8 After successfully solving the case of FunJungle's hippo murder in Belly Up (2011), Teddy Fitzroy stumbles into another mystery. But this time, he's the primary suspect. After getting caught dropping mannequin limbs in the shark tank (under threat of a harsh thumping from the dimwitted middle-school bully), Teddy escapes into FunJungle's newest exhibit, KoalaVille, where he hides until the coast is clear. But when maintenance crews discover that Kazoo the Koala, on loan from Australia, is missing, and FunJungle security finds video footage placing Teddy at the scene of the crime, he rushes headlong into clearing his name and rescuing the koala while simultaneously uncovering a sinister plot to sabotage the whole park. Amid the mystery and subterfuge, Gibbs interweaves plenty of animal facts, such as the koala is the only known animal whose brain only fills half its skull. Gibbs' clever plot, zoo setting, and likable characters combine to produce a lively caper full of fast-paced twists and turns and red herrings (not to mention sharks, chimps, tiger cubs, and snakes).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)