This is the story of a young man, Teddy, who is twelve years old and lives at a zoo/theme park and is so bored he is forced to investigate a murderous conspiracy.  If you can swallow that premise (and as written it’s really not hard) you’ll probably love Stuart Gibbs’ Belly Up.

I found the book full of these seemingly incongruous mash-ups of circumstances that didn’t quite make sense, yet still worked.  Teddy’s friend (and maybe flame) Summer, daughter of the uber rich owner of FunJungle, is one such.  She almost didn’t work for me, since she was simultaneously a juxtaposition of ‘rich girl’ cliches and assumptions such as the one that as a rich girl, she had no friends or freedom, but was still spoiled rotten, set side by side against her in-depth and minutely researched knowledge of animals.  And yet, Summer not only worked but was a lovely and enjoyable character that added warmth to the story.

I guess at the end of the day, this is a good book to pick up when your suspension of disbelief levels are feeling robust.  Not so surprising, give that the kids must outwit an entire facility of brilliant scientist and hyper-focused animal experts plus what should be (given the money put into the theme park) a top notch security team in order to solve several animal murders.

But lest I give you the idea that I found it all hard to swallow (sorry–can’t seem to get away from that metaphor…but of an inside joke) let me add that I really loved all the facts about the animals and zoo life, which had the feel of having been carefully researched without ever intruding on the story or seeming like an info blast.  I also really loved Teddy’s interactions with his mom (and dad, but he wasn’t home most of it) and the fabulous parenting style which allowed them to be both loving, attentive parents and hands-off enough for Teddy to get into trouble and even have someone make an attempt on his life.  Most of all, I loved the gorgeously over-the-top descriptions of FunJungle itself–and want to know when it will be built and can I get advance tickets, please?  Seriously, I’d love to visit.

Now, let’s go to our resident animal expert and see what the cat has to say:

“I liked it when those big cats got out, and made all the people in fancy clothes run away.  That part sounded like fun.  But otherwise…can I have a big EWW for that hippo enclosure?  And, hippo EVERTHING?  That was more than a little gross.  I’ll just be over here, giving myself a bath.”

Well, there you have it–a cat’s view.  I found it a fun book, and one I suspect the intended audience will roll around laughing over and thoroughly enjoy.  It won’t make the very top of my fav book shelf, but that’s a pretty selective shelf (it’s rare for a book to make it) and I enjoyed the read.

Pick up other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday recommendations and book author interviews on Shannon Messenger’s blog, and in the mean time…if you had to live in a zoo, but a nice zoo, what kind of animal would you want to be?  Me, I’m going with Tiger, but I want a pool to swim in!

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