I recently read Belly Up by Stuart Gibbs. I think the book is called Belly Up because when the hippo died, his belly went up. The main character’s name is Teddy Fitzroy who is twelve years old, mischievous and smart. The story takes place at a big zoo called Funjungle which has a mascot named Henry the Hippo. The main problem of the story is that Henry the Hippo suddenly dies, and Teddy tries to figure out who killed the hippopotamus or how he died. The plot is complicated. The action moves around a lot because there is so much going on in the book. Many things pop up in your face as you read the book to make you keep reading.

As you read the book, it might not make sense immediately, so you have to be patient to to understand the story. Funjungle is a big zoo that has unique areas for different kinds of animals. For example, there is Hippo River, Reptile World and Carnivore Canyon (not open yet). Teddy has to go through all these areas to find evidence of how the hippopotamus died. When Teddy is in Reptile World, he searches for clues and someone sets out a poisonous snake to scare him off. For example, on page 122 the book says, “I rounded a stand of fake trees and something lunged at me.” They did this to make sure that Teddy didn’t get any information about the person who killed Henry the Hippo. When a girl named Summer Mcracken (the park owner’s daughter) comes into the story, she becomes friends with Teddy and wants to find out more about the death of Henry. Because she’s the park owner’s daughter, she has the power to help Teddy get into places that will give him more clues. This will eventually lead him to who killed Henry the Hippo.

The first reason I like the book is because of the mystery. My favorite part of the book is when Teddy sneaks into the autopsy, (it means to cut an animal open and see how it died.) He almost gets caught by the two sneaky characters, Doc and Martin (who is the businessman,) who are doing the autopsy. The second reason I like the book is because it’s humorous. For example, once Teddy and Summer go swimming in the hippo pool full of poop. Finally, I like all the characters because they all have different personalities. Summer is funny and Teddy is mischievous. For example, Teddy gave the monkeys water balloons and the monkeys threw them at tourists.

I liked this book and rate it 4½ stars out of 5 stars. I really liked this book because I was constantly asking myself what was going to happen next. Will Teddy also go belly up?

I am reading a book called The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan. It has three main characters. One named Jason, one named Leo and one named Piper. All three of them got mysteriously taken to a camp called Camp Half Blood. Camp Half Blood is a camp for half bloods. A half blood is someone who has one parent who is a greek god and one parent who is a regular person. Camp half blood is a place where half bloods have to train to go on quests. A quest is basically an adventure that not a lot of half bloods go on, to save someone or to get something. It is a very good community. Everyone who goes there is sort of like a family. They do things together and they are all friends in one way or another

They all got taken to Camp Half Blood, and immediately have to go on a quest. The quest is to save Hera, a very important greek god. All of Olympus would just fall apart without Hera, because Hera keeps the family of the gods together. Hera is the wife of Zeus. She has been kidnapped and Jason, Piper and Leo have to go on a quest to help save her. You have to read on in order to find out if they save her or not. Camp Half Blood is a place with strawberry fields, and it is meant to help half bloods train for quests. It is where most half bloods go.

Everything is going wrong without Hera, like Jason and Piper keep on seeing visions of Hera and also, a very important Half Blood named Percy Jackson has gone missing! Piper is mostly going on the quest because she is hoping that she will find her dad who has been missing for three days. She is hoping that on the quest, she will find him. Jason does not remember anything. He has no idea who he is or where he has been. All he knows is that something is not right. He senses it. He is going on the quest, hoping that he will get his memory back.

Leo is a mischievous kid who has a way with tools. He keeps on seeing the ghost of his babysitter named Tía Callida who tried to kill him! He is hoping that that has something to do with Hera being missing, so that if he completes the quest, Leo will stop seeing the ghost of his babysitter. Leo thinks Tía Callida had been trying to kill him, but maybe she was trying to make Leo stronger. On page 137, Tía Callida said, “Where is your bravery, little hero? Show me the fates were right to choose you.” Do you think Tía Callida has been trying to kill Leo or trying to make him stronger? Maybe Tía Callida was trying to see if Leo could stay alive after she let Leo play with a Rattle Snake.

I am really enjoying this book because I like how Rick Riordan included greek mythology in this book. I also like how he describes the setting in a way where you have to think in order to understand the setting. I also like how the book is really funny when Leo is talking. I would recommend this book to people who like magical books because this book is magical, in a realistic way. I also would recommend this book to people who like funny books because this book has funny quotes here and there. I would rate this book four stars.

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The book that I read over the past week is The Keys To The Kingdom Mr. Monday by Garth Nix. The main character’s name is Arthur. He is very curious. Arthur’s problem is that he was given a key by a
mysterious man and he has no idea what to do with it.  He discovers many mysterious things that have been following him. When he has the key his wounds go away and things come to life. Arthur is trying to get to the bottom of this. This story takes place in the present because they describe phones and all kinds of current technology.

Arthur was given the key by a man named Mr Monday who thought Arthur was going to die as soon as he got it. Mr Monday’s assistant Sneezer betrayed him and somehow the key did the exact opposite. Mr Monday has been trying to get Arthur’s key back with his henchmen who are dog humans. The Fetcher look more like dogs in attack mode and like humans when in defense mode. Arthur also got an atlas with the key. In the atlas it said that the weakness of the dog like Fetchers is salt. When he pours salt on them it lets out a  horrifying fume that puts the school in quarantine. In the atlas it also said that there was a house in his neighborhood that belonged to Mr Monday. Arthur decides to go inside and finds out wonders. I am pretty sure if Arthur was not so curious none of this  would have happened. Like Arthur’s mom said “Curiosity kills”… and in his case literally.

I enjoyed the book because it kept me in suspense the whole time. Also it is very interesting so I always think about the book , even when I am not reading it. I also like the way the story changes from Arthur being a normal person to being some kind of wizard. I would recommend this book to somebody who can remember their facts from the beginning all the way to the end. But I mainly recommend this to people who like big surprises because if you don’t, this is not for you. I rate this book five out of five stars.

The Glass Sentence

by Tilda Sutter (Well technically S.E. Grove)

My book review is on The Glass Sentence by S.E. Grove. The main character’s names are Sophia and Theo. In this book, in 1799, something called The Great Disruption happened. Every country was thrown into different time periods. Sophia lives in New Occident, Boston. At this point in history mapmaking has become a delicate mixture of Science and Magic. Her uncle is a famous mapmaker. Her parents are lost because they went exploring and never came back.. Sophia lives with her uncle. Her uncle is kidnapped by “Sandmen”. Sophia and Theo go to find him.

Sophia’s uncle makes memory maps, which is a map that when you touch one area on the map, it  brings you to someone’s memory of something that happened there. When her uncle is kidnapped, she finds a note saying, “Find Veressa and a block of glass.” Veressa is a girl her uncle knew from college. Now Veressa lives in the Badlands. Sophia and Theo also end up on a pirate ship. Sophia is worried about trusting Theo. Theo lies a lot. In this book people have different ideas of how The Great Disruption happened. “It cannot be undone. Every Cartographer, scientist, cosmographer will tell you the same thing: there can only be another disruption.” That means that the Great Disruption will never end or stop, it can only happen again.

I would  rate this book  100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars out of 5, but it can’t be over five, so five stars. The book is so good. I recommend this book to anyone who can read, actually if you can’t read, get someone to read it to you! I like this book because it makes you think of a lot of different concepts. It also makes you feel like you are in the book. It also makes you think of how your life would change if you were with Sophia and Theo. I also should mention that this book has not been published but you can get a advanced readers copy from the library. It will be published on June 12th.