Title: Belly Up
Author: Stuart Gibbs
Genre: Middle School Reader
Buy Link: http://amzn.com/1416987320
Blurb (from Goodreads):
12 year old Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt Fitzroy has got a murder on his hands and trouble on his tail. Henry, the hippopatamus at the brand-new nationally known FunJungle, has gone belly up. Even though it’s claimed he died of natural causes, Teddy smells something fishy and it sure ain’t the polar bear’s lunch. Dealing with the zoo’s top brass proves to be nothing but a waste of time. They want to see any trace of Henry’s death disappear like yesterday’s paper. So Teddy sets out to find the truth. With the help of Summer McCraken, a fiesty girl with secrets of her own, the two narrow down their prime suspects. Is it Martin Del Gato, FunJungle’s head of operations who dislikes kids and hates animals even more? Or J.J McCraken, the owner of FunJungle and Summer’s father, who has more concern for the dough he’s raking in than the animals in the zoo? As their investigation goes on, Teddy gets squeezed on all sides to quit asking questions– or Henry won’t be the only one to turn up dead. The deeper Teddy and Summer get, the more the danger mounts — because when it comes to hippo homicide, the truth can’t be kept in a cage!
Azalyah’s Review:
I think Belly Up is quite an interesting book. It has action and humor, it does have a pretty weird cover of a hippo. I think the main character is quite humorous, right away you find him giving chimp’s water balloons 🙂 The main animal character is Henry the Hippo. People should definitely read this book, I loved it.
Azalyah’s Disclaimer: Not suitable for younger children, has mild cussing
(she says they say “H-E-double hockey sticks” a lot!)
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Azalyah is my 11 year old Reviewer – the above review is in her words, not my own! 🙂
Anita Loves to Read 