Poached - (Funjungle) by Stuart Gibbs (Hardcover)

About the Book

Twelve-year-old Teddy Fitzroy is the prime suspect when FunJungle's newly-acquired koala goes missing, thanks to a prank staged by middle school bully Vance Jessup.

Book Synopsis

Teddy Fitzroy's back for another zoo mystery--this time it's a koala caper--in this action-packed follow-up to Belly Up, which Kirkus Reviews called "great fun."

School troublemaker Vance Jessup thinks Teddy Fitzroy's home at FunJungle, a state-of-the-art zoo and theme park, is the perfect place for a cruel prank. Vance bullies Teddy into his scheme, but the plan goes terribly awry.

Teddy sneaks into the koala exhibit to hide out until the chaos dies down. But when the koala goes missing, Teddy is the only person caught on camera entering and exiting the exhibit.

Teddy didn't commit the crime--but if he can't find the real culprit, he'll be sent to juvie as a convicted koala-napper.

Review Quotes

"[A] genuinely engaging mystery set in a zoo. . . . Poached is so strong that it is surprisingly second in a series, following 2010's Belly Up, with only a few lines that refer to past adventures and, better yet, do not give spoilers for an audience that is sure to want to read more. . . . This will appeal to animal and mystery lovers alike."-- "VOYA"

"[W]hopper 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."-- "School Library Journal"

"Gibbs' clever plot, zoo setting, and likeable 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)."-- "Booklist"

"This thrill-ride of a mystery is chock-full of hijinks for middle-grade sleuths and budding zoologists alike."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

About the Author

Stuart Gibbs is the New York Times bestselling author of the Charlie Thorne series, FunJungle series, Moon Base Alpha series, Once Upon a Tim series, and Spy School series. He has written screenplays, worked on a whole bunch of animated films, developed TV shows, been a newspaper columnist, and researched capybaras (the world's largest rodents). Stuart lives with his family in Los Angeles. You can learn more about what he's up to at StuartGibbs.com.