Poached

Teddy Fitzroy has a big problem.  Vance Jessup may be stupid, but he is big, mean, and making Teddy's life miserable.  When Vance bullies Teddy into pulling a prank at FunJungle, the zoo where Teddy's parents work, it sets Teddy up for disaster.

He's already in trouble with large Marge, head of security at FunJungle for throwing mannequin parts in the tank at Shark Odyssey when Kazoo the koala is kidnapped.  Marge hates Teddy, and she's convinced he's the kidnapper, so she won't even follow other leads.

This leaves Teddy to investigate on his own to prove his innocence before Marge has him arrested.  J.J. McKracken, owner of FunJungle, has threatened his parents' jobs if Teddy gets involved, but he is determined to find the truth not just to save himself.  The person who stole Kazoo didn't take any food, so if the koala isn't discovered soon, he'll starve to death.

It's a race against time in this companion novel to Belly Up that puts Teddy in the thick of the investigation once again.  Maybe this time he can save the animal in question instead of investigating its murder.

Stuart Gibbs brings the same mix of sincerity, mystery, animal poop, and slapstick to Poached that I enjoyed in Belly Up.  I hope there are more books to come in this series!