Author: Stuart Gibbs
Illustrator: Lucy Ruth Cummins (map illustration: Ryan Thompson)
© Date: 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Pages: 329
Chapters: Yes
Illustrations: No
Publisher Recommended Age: 8-12 years
Bonus Activities at End of Book: No, but has an author note that wild koalas are in trouble due to habitat loss, gives information for how to help.
Summary from Book: Kazoo the koala is missing!
And Teddy Fitzroy is the primary suspect. The only way Teddy can clear his name is to crack the case and bring Kazoo back home to FunJungle where he belongs, all while steering clear of Vance the bully. Otherwise Teddy will be shipped off to juvie as a convicted koala-napper.
Page Pig Thoughts: I loved this one and was sad to be done with it, so I hope to read the next in the series soon. The story has enough threads woven through the mystery to keep you wondering how everything will play out in the end. The humor was well done and had me laughing out loud at one point.
I was slightly disappointed that after wearing one of the character costumes for a short bit, Teddy did not seem to think about Charlie Connor with more empathy. Teddy experiences the miseries of walking around in a character suit and mentions that he could see what makes Charlie Connor so grumpy, but does not seem to alter his thought process. Maybe a future book will deal with that one.
I appreciate the animal facts woven into the story, but I could see how Teddy’s mom being the periodic speaker of animal information could be annoying to someone. And while I appreciate the end of the story author note mentioning that wild koalas can use help, I can also understand that may not feel great to someone. But those small points shouldn’t distract from a well done humorous mystery.
Use caution with younger or sensitive readers: bullies and physical violence threats, handcuffs and threat of juvenile detention.
Family Unit: Teddy (12yo) lives with his mother (wildlife biologist) and father (wildlife photographer) in a trailer on the edge of FunJungle’s property.
Conflict/Social Issues:
- Teddy is a child, and mischievous at that, so he is unfairly blamed for the koala disappearance.
- Teddy is threatened with his parents’ jobs if he continues investigating the disappearance, but he does not trust the security team to do a thorough investigation.
- Teddy tries to navigate dealing with the school bully.
Positive Items:
- Teddy’s parents are protective of him and work to help prove his innocence.
- The things that potentially could have made Teddy seem weird at school turn out to be the things that make him fascinating to other students.
- Facts about sharks, koalas, and chimpanzees are woven into the story.
Items of Interest:
- The complexities of dealing with school bullies is touched on. Kids being fearful when they are singled out by a bully. School administrators being well meaning, but potentially making the issue worse. The debate over being submissive or fighting back despite the threat of being pummeled. No solution is provided, but the bully is put in his place when students team together to take a stand against him.
- Teddy is threatened into pulling a prank by the school bully, Vance. Teddy puts a mannequin arm and foot into the shark tank, but draws the line at adding fake ketchup blood because the ketchup could be bad for the sharks in the tank.
- Teddy runs away from the security guards chasing him for his prank. He hides in the koala exhibit. Security cameras show him there, so the head security guard blames Teddy when the koala goes missing.
- The head security guard, Marge, believes Teddy is behind anything bad that happens at FunJungle because Teddy likes to pull pranks.
- Teddy tells his parents about things going on in his life, including Vance the bully and hiding in the koala exhibit. His parents work to protect Teddy and help solve the mystery of the missing koala.
- Teddy’s mom has tried telling the principal about Vance the bully, but the principal tells the bully who ratted him out. So Vance is only more mean toward Teddy, and Teddy begs his mother not to call the principal anymore. Teddy’s dad then suggests that Teddy should just punch Vance in the face to take care of the problem. Teddy’s mom does not agree that violence is the answer, but his dad says that the method worked for him when he was younger.
- Potty humor is kinda present. George the chimpanzee throws his poop at people. FunJungle visitors vomit and someone slips in it. The bully intends to give Teddy a swirly in the “toilet of doom” which is the most backed up one at school.
- Language of interest – “what the heck” is said and maybe dang-it was used.
- J.J. McCracken, the billionaire owner of FunJungle, tells Teddy that he should not investigate the Kazoo disappearance. he says that Teddy has been involved in lots of major mishaps at FunJungle, including a black mamba release, tiger escape, and Henry the hippo funeral fiasco. J.J. McCracken tells Teddy that if he continues to investigate, his parents will be fired from their jobs and they will have to leave FunJungle.
- Vance and his bully minions, TimJim (identical twins that no one can tell apart), nab Teddy and take him to get a swirly as punishment. Two football players come to Teddy’s rescue. One football player punches Tim in the gut. One football player steps around Jim and ties his arm behind his back before knocking him to the ground. Vance attempts to take Teddy to the toilet himself, but Teddy braces his feet against the stall door and pushes back. The ensuing scuffle leads to Vance slipping and falling face first into the stopped up toilet.
- Summer McCracken calls Teddy and convinces him to continue investigating the Kazoo koala disappearance.
- Teddy does wind up being walked out of FunJungle in handcuffs, but escapes more than once. He also winds up in an ankle tracker.
- FunJungle PR was trying to prevent people from the disappointment of their favorite critter missing from the zoo, so a stuffed toy is left in the exhibit. Teddy’s cop escapes lead to a humorous series of events with security guards breaking the temporary exhibit glass and landing on top of the stuffed toy. Visitors were very upset and attempt to rescue the koala, but then find out a stuffed toy had been on exhibit.
- Teddy’s dad is not afraid to use self defense techniques in an attempt to protect his son. He even yells that a lion escaped to get zoo visitors to create a diversion for their escape. Teddy’s mother does not approve of his methods, but is understanding that he was only trying to help.
- Charlie Connor sues FunJungle to get some money for an injury incurred at the zoo, but FunJungle had private investigators discover Charlie going out dancing at night. He then tries to think up a new plan for getting some money off FunJungle. Turns out he was only trying to impress a zookeeper because making his plan to slightly inflating his timecard sound like a big plan makes him sound more interesting than a grown man that walks around in costume all day.
- Teddy becomes friends with football players and the head cheerleader seems to have a bit of a crush on him. He had been fearful that growing up in the Congo would make him weird, but everyone wound up interested in his stories. Teddy is willing to milk his FunJungle stories for popularity points, but he did not want to divulge Summer McCracken information in the same way.
- Teddy winds up handcuffed in the underwater shark tank viewing tunnel with Marge the security officer and Bubba the police officer. Metal doors come down trapping them in the tunnel. Remote detonated explosives go off and flood the tunnel. Teddy, Marge, and Bubba have to face the sharks and 30 feet deep water to escape. Teddy’s mother dives in to make his final pull to safety. Marge and Bubba are also helped out of the pool. Teddy realizes that his mother made faster than Olympic time to get to the shark tank and rescue him.
- A competing company had sent someone to sabotage an exhibit at FunJungle so they could get an edge. The man sent, Hank, winds up on the other side of some security bars from a chimpanzee that get super angry around people in orange hats. The chimp throws poop and scares Hank enough that he tells the truth about his motives.
- Despite Teddy getting Hank to talk, J.J. McCracken is still content to turn Teddy over to the police for stealing Kazoo the koala. J.J. has no interest in giving Teddy the benefit of the doubt.
- Turns out that Vance had a crush on Violet Grace, the head cheerleader, since third grade. He had stolen the koala to give her and impress her. But the koala was angry, grumpy, and lashing out while trying to defend himself. She wanted nothing to do with the angry creature and he was left with a koala that he didn’t want, but he didn’t want to get caught trying to return him either.
- Teddy’s dad says that one day he will understand about doing something stupid to impress a girl. When Teddy lays eyes on Summer McCracken again, he realizes that he knows exactly what his dad was talking about.
- The book ends with Teddy and Summer having a conversation. Teddy blushes when he sees Summer. Summer seems to blush when she admits that she may have been missing him while she was away at boarding school. Teddy’s parents and Summer’s bodyguards are in the vicinity, so just a blushing conversation between two kids with crushes.
Other Books in Series (At Time of Posting):
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