Belly Up (Simon and Schuster, 2010) by Stuart Gibbs is one of those fun ridiculous stories, yet has such a satisfying ending. I loved the details of the unusual setting and think kids will too.
12-year-old Teddy Fitzroy is the only kid for 30 miles and lives at FunJungle. Going to an entertainment place is one thing, but living there all the time? Marge the security guard has it in for him for his practical jokes, so when there’s trouble at Henry Hippo’s enclosure she blames him. But Henry is dead. And Teddy thinks it’s murder. Could it be the Head of Operations, Martin del Gato, who hates animals and kids? Or Pete Thwacker, the head of PR, who’s had to deal with Henry’s messes? You’ll have to read it to find out.
This is author Stuart Gibbs first book, but he already has two more in the publication process. The Last Musketeer will come out in fall 2011 and Spy School will be out in spring of 2012. Sounds fun to me.
More humor is available on Stuart’s site, in his bio. You can even find a link to buy your own Belly Up shirt.