Tag: Stuart Gibbs

Marshmallow has already read and reviewed all of Stuart Gibbs’s FunJungle books for the book bunnies blog. You can check out her review of the first book, Belly Up, here, while her review of the second book, Poached, is here. Her review of the third book Big Game is here, her review of the fourth book, Panda-monium, is available here, and her review of the fifth book in the series, Lion Down, is here. She reviewed the sixth book Tyrannosaurus Wrecks last, and you can find the review here. Today she reviews the seventh book of this series: Bear Bottom.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like realistic fiction books about animals and mystery, or if you have enjoyed any of Stuart Gibbs’s earlier books, then this might be the book for you. 

Marshmallow’s Summary (with Spoilers): Teddy Fitzroy generally lives in FunJungle, in the mobile housing section for employees (his parents both work for FunJungle). FunJungle is the world’s largest zoo, described in the first book of the series as a combination of Disneyworld and the San Diego Zoo. The zoo was created by billionaire J.J. McCracken. During his time living in FunJungle, Teddy solved many crimes there and became friends with and eventually began to date J.J.’s daughter, Summer McCracken.

But in this book, Teddy is off to Montana with his parents to accompany J.J., Summer, and several other people. (Summer’s mother, Kandace, comes shortly after too.) This is because J.J. is planning on purchasing a ranch located close to Yellowstone (Oy Vey Corral) to create a FunJungle-approved safari park.

Teddy plans on having a relaxing trip. However, his plans go askew when a giant grizzly bear named Sasquatch breaks into the ranch house and Kandace’s very expensive necklace is stolen. Once again, Teddy finds himself stuck in complicated mysteries that have many suspects, lots of danger, and (so it seems) no answers. 

Marshmallow’s Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. I loved all of the books in this series, and I think that this is a great addition. (And I hope it isn’t the last one!) I like that in all of the books there is always more than one mystery; as far I remember, there are almost always two mysteries and they intertwine in very interesting ways.

I liked how we see more than just FunJungle in this book, because it does seem like the series is getting more detached from FunJungle itself. The main setting is Yellowstone and it was a refreshing change. I also appreciated how we have been introduced to so many new characters. 

All in all, the main storyline of Bear Bottom was not an easy mystery to solve; I never would have guessed the real culprits. (I already gave away enough spoilers, but I won’t spoil that for you!) 

I did like however that the author, Stuart Gibbs, had information about animals and history slipped into the story. It also taught me a lot more about some parts of history not often spoken about. Also he touched on important issues, like how Native Americans are treated unfairly and unjustly for their lands.

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow has already reviewed the first five books from Stuart Gibbs’ FunJungle series: you can check out her review of the first book, Belly Up, here, while her review of the second book, Poached, is here. Her review of the third book Big Game is here, her review of the fourth book, Panda-monium, is available here, and her review of the fifth book in the series, Lion Down, is here. Today she shares with us her thoughts on the sixth and most recent book on the adventures of Teddy Fitzroy: Tyrannosaurus Wrecks.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like animals or if you have enjoyed some of Stuart Gibbs’s other books, then this might be the book for you. 

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Teddy Fitzroy lives in FunJungle, a mix of a zoo and a theme park. He has just apprehended the Zebra Spanker when his friend, Sage Bonotto, asks him to investigate the disappearance of his tyrannosaurus rex. Apparently, while the skeleton of a T-rex was being excavated on his family’s ranch, someone stole her skull.

The case seems impossible. The skull of Minerva (which is what they named the T-rex) was five hundred pounds and the burglary happened in the middle of a really bad storm. The thieves should have left some trace but it seems like they haven’t. Even worse, the local police thinks that it’s a hoax. So Sage asks Teddy to investigate. (Teddy solved some other cases before.)

While Teddy is at the scene of the crime, the twin school bullies Tim and Jim Barksdale call him. Jim asks Teddy whether he can use the Heimlich maneuver on a snake that has eaten a cat.  It turns out that Tim and Jim illegally purchased an anaconda that ate their cat Griselda. As he investigates, Teddy finds that the twins bought it from Snakes Alive, a new zoo that is nearby and is trying to take business from FunJungle. (Their signs say stuff like “MORE FUN THAN FUNJUNGLE—AND A WHOLE LOT CHEAPER!”)

As Teddy learns more about the two cases, things get more and more complicated. You will just have to read the book to find out more!

Marshmallow’s Review: This is a really good book for people who like to read about animals and mysteries. The characters are very well written. The plot involves a very interesting mystery. There are a lot of people that you could suspect, and the thief is someone I would not have suspected. Without all of the evidence, it would be impossible to solve the case.

At the end of the book, the author, Stuart Gibbs, has some notes about one of the main topics in the book: animal trafficking. This is something Gibbs does in all the FunJungle books, and helps the reader connect the book to real life.

Tyrannosaurus Wrecks is probably best for ages nine and up. This is because the plot is very intricate and it could be very confusing if the reader doesn’t catch all of the evidence. Also it could be scary for readers who do not like snakes. Another reason is because its “language is not very delicate” (as Roald Dahl wrote about Matilda‘s father). But all that aside, this is a very entertaining book. 

Marshmallow’s Review: 95%.

Marshmallow has already reviewed several books from Stuart Gibbs’ FunJungle series: you can check out her review of the first book, Belly Up, here, while her review of the second book, Poached, is here, her review of the fourth book, Panda-monium, is available here, and her review of the fifth book in the series, Lion Down, is here. Today she finally got around to sharing with us her thoughts on the third book on the adventures of Teddy Fitzroy: Big Game.

Marshmallow’s Quick Take: If you like detective books or enjoyed reading some of Stuart Gibbs’s other books, then this might be the book for you.

Marshmallow’s Summary (with spoilers): Teddy Fitzroy lives at FunJungle, the world’s biggest, most elaborate zoo, where a lot of events have gone wrong. For example, the zoo’s mascot, Henry the Hippo, was murdered in the first book, Belly Up. Then in the second book, Poached, which Caramel is reading now, Kazoo the Koala is stolen, after the zoo and its billionaire owner, J.J. McCracken, went to “enormous lengths” to secure the bringing it to FunJungle. 

Now, the zoo has to face one of their hardest cases. Someone is shooting at Rhonda Rhino! Teddy has gotten into a lot of danger while solving other cases in FunJungle, so he wisely decides that he will sit out on this one. But J.J. McCracken has other ideas. 

Since J.J. knows that he is good at solving mysteries, he brings Teddy to his office, with his daughter, Summer, who is Teddy’s friend. J.J. asks Teddy if he will take the case, and Teddy says that he will consider it and ask his parents about it. While Summer calls her mother, J.J. hints that if Teddy doesn’t help, his parents will be fired. Teddy of course does not want his parents to lose their jobs, so he goes to the scene of the crime, Rhonda’s pen, where she is kept while she is pregnant. 

Marshmallow’s Review: This is one of Teddy’s hardest cases. It is really hard to decide what to make of the situation, since there are so many loose ends, but of course they neatly tie up at the end. Like how the assailant didn’t use a silencer when they took the first shot and then later in another attempt did. 

I think that the attacker did a very good job of hiding their guilt. I never suspected them. A lot of the clues do not make any sense about who the attacker is, until the end. 

The book is very well written and thought out. The clues are all laid out, and at the end of the book (this is a personal experience, it might not happen to you), I wondered how I hadn’t realized who the guilty person was before. 

The author has once again mixed humor, thrill, and mystery in this book making this a great book for fans of mystery books. 

Marshmallow’s Rating: 95%.

Marshmallow has already reviewed several books from Stuart Gibbs’ FunJungle series: you can check out her review of the first book, Belly Up, here, while her review of the second book, Poached, is here, and her review of the fourth book, Panda-monium, is available here. Today she shares with us her thoughts on the fifth book on the adventures of Teddy Fitzroy: Lion Down.

Marshmallow’s overview: If you liked any of the other FunJungle books or if you like mysteries about animals, then this might be the book for you. 

Marshmallow’s summary (with spoilers): Teddy Fitzroy has gotten himself involved in a mystery, yet again. This time a mountain lion named Rocket is accused of “canicide”. The victim was King, the dog of Lincoln Stone, the famous host of a talk show.

Stone hosts a TV show on which he bad-mouths the government and how everything that they say is wrong and that he is right. He starts to accuse Rocket for killing and then says that he will pay anyone that kills Rocket five hundred thousand dollars. 

Teddy Fitzroy is approached by FunJungle’s vet’s daughter, who asks him to investigate the death of King. She and many other activists in the ALF (Animal Liberation Front) believe that someone has intentionally framed Rocket. As Teddy investigates it is discovered that King was not the breed that Lincoln Stone says he was on his show. And also on the night of the “murder” Stone left King outside when he knew that there were mountain lions around. It soon comes out that he wasn’t nice to King, either. As he learns from Stone’s neighbors that Stone was having a party with guns, Teddy now has even more suspects. One of the guests at the party might have accidentally shot King and then tried to make it look like Rocket ate him. Teddy is overwhelmed with mysteries while he also struggles with a mysterious vandal poisoning the giraffes every Sunday.  

Marshmallow’s review: This book is very suitable for those who want to learn about animals while reading a mystery book. The mystery is hard to figure out, and like the past books in the series, Lion Down has two mysteries that Teddy has to solve. The reader is provided with many suspects for the case about King’s death.

The reader also learns about habitat loss. The author combines mystery, suspense, and humor while informing the reader about habitat loss, a very big problem that hurts many animals.

This is a very funny book and it will entertain many different audiences. (Actually the whole series is like that. Caramel recently started reading Belly Up and he is enjoying it a lot!)

You could probably read this book before reading the earlier books in the series, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Reading the first books will help you understand the book better. Just reading Panda-monium could be okay though, if you don’t want to read all the books. Still I think reading all of them in the right order is probably the best idea. (If you want to read a book from a series that does not require reading the earlier books, then Ivy + Bean One Big Happy Family might be the book for you.)

Marshmallow’s rating: 100%.