Poached

Poached
by Stuart Gibbs
Recommended Ages: 11+

Teddy Fitzroy lives at a wildlife theme park in Texas with his parents, who work there. Known for pulling pranks, he's often in trouble at FunJungle, even while he's mercilessly bullied at school. Being friends with the daughter of the park's richie-rich owner doesn't save him from big trouble when his two worlds cross, and his personal bully comes to the park and forces him to commit a truly tasteless prank. Nor does his track record of solving the murder of a hippo keep him from becoming Suspect No. 1 when a koala on loan from Australia goes missing.

The embarrassing thing, for the park, is that the koala-napping wasn't even detected until the next day, thanks to a stuffed toy koala that the thief left in its enclosure. But as funny as that is, Teddy isn't laughing. The park's chief of security hates his guts and is convinced she's got her guy, without bothering to look any further. Meanwhile, Kazoo (that's the koala's name) doesn't have a lot of time. For starters, there isn't much of a local supply of the type of eucalyptus leaves that forms the cuddly creature's entire diet. And who knows how its captors are treating it!

For a little kid who has been cowed by bullies his whole life, Teddy shows a lot of spunk and hustle while trying to elude capture and, at the same time, solving the case. He has more suspects than he knows what to do with, but tangling with them could be dangerous – as he finds out when a sketchy guy in shades and a Houston Astros ball cap punches him on his nose. Luckily, he's wearing a Kazoo costume at the time, because otherwise that could have hurt. The next time ball cap guy makes a move, Teddy and others find themselves in real danger. Like, "what happens when you're in a glass tunnel under a shark aquarium and a bomb goes off"-type danger. It's a nonstop theme-park ride of chases, snooping, hiding, and sleuthing in an environment full of exotic (and sometimes dangerous) animals and a cast of comical yet complex characters. It's fun, and it's also low-key educational about the lifestyles of zoo animals and the people who work around them.

This is the second book in the FunJungle series, which started with Belly Up and, to date, features eight titles including Big Game, Panda-monium, Lion Down, Tyrannosaurus Wrecks, Bear Bottom and Whale Done. Stuart Gibbs is also the author of the Last Musketeer and Moon Base Alpha trilogies, 11 Spy School novels, and soon to be four books each in the Charlie Thorne and Once Upon a Tim series. I've enjoyed lots of his books, and I think kids from middle school or so up will, too.