Before I had the chance to read Belly Up, my 12-year-old daughter snatched it up. She read through it quickly and heartily endorsed it.
I agree with her completely. Belly Up is the story of Teddy Fitzroy, a boy who was raised in the jungle and now lives at an animal themed amusement park. His mother is a gorilla expert and her father is a nature photographer. When things in the Congo got dangerous, they accepted a job at J.J. McCracken’s new big fancy new zoo attraction outside of San Antonio, Texas. FunJungle is an immediate success, but is not without problems. Henry Hippo, the zoo’s mascot, doesn’t really like people. He has bitten trainers, he shoots poo at the spectators, and when he’s not shooting it, he’s depositing it in the water and clouding up the under-water viewing areas.
When he’s found dead, Doc the vet suspects foul play. Teddy wants to make sure the culprit is found, but that lands him as a target himself.
Animal lovers, and zoo or theme park afficianados will appreciate the insider info given about these industries. As a former Texan, I also enjoyed the accurate portrayal of that area.
This is a fast-paced read that will appeal to any reader who enjoys mystery, action or adventure stories.
CONTENT NOTE: This book is written from a 12-year-old boy’s perspective. The voice is accurate, and it makes the story relatable to kids. The bookjacket recommends it for 8 – 12, but I’d stick to the upper end of that. The SLJ review at amazon says 5th to 8th graders, and I agree with that, but there is one character who only appears in a few scenes who curses. It’s fairly mild, but on those pages it occurs with some frequency. Many YA titles have swearing, and this is mild by comparison, but does seem a bit out of place with the overall tone of the book (enough so that even my daughter noted it), and so it is worth noting.
Cool review. That sounds like a great book. I was surprised when you said they found the hippo dead, but it sounds like I would be as interested in reading it as the kids (when they get a little older).
I bought and read the book a couple months ago, and I’d like to completely second the recommendation. I loved it!
It really has gotten a lot of good buzz from Amazon Viners and other adult readers. The author does have a very readable style.
I appreciate your thoughts on this, as we’ve looked at it (several times!) in the bookstore. My kid put down another book recently for language — it was bothering him — so maybe we’ll wait a bit on this one. But it looks very clever and I think I’d enjoy it too.
There is also reference to marijuana in the book (the smell of) which I didn’t expect to find or have to explain to my daughter. I found this reference completely unnessary and very disappointing.
Yes, I think it was probably that same scene, right? The whole “carny” thing was just odd and totally out of place. I liked the book a lot, and without that one scene, it would have been totally appropriate for mid-elementary kids, but as it is, I really can’t recommend it for them.
Funny to get this comment now, because I just noticed my daughter — who enjoyed it at 12 — is reading it again now at 13 1/2.