A likable protagonist, a very kid-friendly brand of humor, and the outrageous setting should keep readers' interest, especially animal lovers. Twelve-year-old Teddy Fitzroy suspects foul play, but when no one believes him, he decides to investigate himself. Henry the Hippo, the beloved mascot of FunJungle, America’s hottest new tourist attraction, is dead. A projectile pile of Henry's innards, a wild chase scene, and a new zoo addition bring this whodunit to a romping, if slightly gruesome, conclusion. Belly Up (FunJungle, 1), Poached (FunJungle, 2), Big Game (FunJungle, 3), Panda-monium (FunJungle, 4), Lion Down (FunJungle, 5), Tyrannosaurus Wrec. Belly Up Stuart Gibbs Stuart Gibbs Belly Up Murder.

Animal facts are plentiful in Gibbs's debut novel, at times slowing the pace, but always offering interesting tidbits-sometimes of a scatological nature (for example, hippos habitually fire 'streams of feces' at each other and occasionally people). No one believes him except Summer, the daughter of the Texas millionaire who owns FunJungle, and they work together to find the killer, even as someone is trying to silence Teddy himself. When ornery zoo mascot Henry the Hippo dies, Teddy learns that he was murdered (after spying on the autopsy).

When civil war broke out, however, the family moved back to America his parents now work at FunJungle, the world's largest zoo. Teddy Fitzroy and his friends investigate the suspicious death of a hippopotamus at the. They were thick and stubby, looking like giant. Belly Up is a 2010 childrens mystery novel by author Stuart Gibbs. As a result, Henry is invested with metaphorically rich description throughout: Only his feet were visible, jutting above the surface, pale white now that the blood had drained from them. For the first 10 years of his life, 12-year-old Teddy's home was the Congo, where he lived with his parents, a gorilla researcher and a wildlife photographer. And it is Henry’s untimely demise and the mysterious circumstances surrounding them that sparks the plot.

Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs