Review Detail

From beginning to end this was a wonderful addition to the FunJungle series. We start with a riveting play-by-play Stuart Gibbs-style catastrophe scene only he could write in which a kangaroo, Texas drought, and Kevin the bungling Funjungle employee cause a fire that burns down the employees’ mobile homes.
Without a place to stay for the summer, it is not difficult to convince Teddy’s parents to let him join Summer and her mother on a trip to swanky friends in California. It is not long before Teddy is involved in two mysteries to solve.
Among the sleuthing, Teddy and Summer’s relationship hits some bumps as they have their first true fight. This was well done as they are maturing and wanting to be more official in status. I understand Summer’s stance that keeping mention of Teddy out of social media keeps him out of the pressure and rumor mill she can’t avoid. However, it wouldn’t be realistic if Teddy stayed fine with the tabloid pictures, and rumors of her dating stars didn’t bother him. In the ultra-swanky world of the rich, he is treated as riffraff. If they hope to stay together long-term then they will have to face this hurdle.
While this was a fun mystery story in the Funjungle series, I appreciate the new information provided on the dire state of our marine life. As someone living in a landlocked state most of what was presented was new information. I didn’t know beach sand is preferred over dessert sand and is such a huge part of our modern construction from concrete to glass that stolen sand is a real problem. The amount of plastic in the oceans is not new information but the severity of it was alarming. This was a wonderful book to raise awareness for middle-grade audiences who are looking for their place in the world and a cause to get behind. If nothing else it makes you look around at the amount of plastic consumption and waste that we are all a part of and hopefully sparks the question, what can I do to help?