Belly Up: Murder at FunJungle by Stuart Gibbs. 304 p. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, May, 2010. 9781416987314.
Stuart Gibbs made his debut in 2010 with his first FunJungle book, Belly Up, featuring one of the coolest covers around. He followed this up with The Last Musketeer in 2011. 2012 brought us Spy School and a sequel to The Last Musketeer called Traitor's Chase. In 2013, Spy Camp was released, and then he published 1 - 3 books per year, totaling 41 books by October of this year. There are 9 FunJungle books, with #10 releasing in March (see Waiting on Wednesday); 13 Spy School books, 3 Space Case books, 4 Once Upon a Tim books, 4 Charlie Thorne books, 4 Spy School graphic novel adaptations, 1 graphic novel adaptation of Space Case and 3 Last Musketeer books! Wowzers! Is there no end to this man's energy and creativity? (I hope not.)
He must be very busy updating his colorful and instructive website as well. His FAQ page is hilarious and worth a read. It really does cover all the questions that students with author assignments might have; but I fear it's a futile attempt to stave off emails asking what he has already painstakingly covered on his website.
The Spy School series is slightly more popular with my middle school students, but the FunJungle series holds its own and the Space Case books were loved enough to require replacement. Mr. Gibbs' books take up a lot of library shelf real estate, and those shelves are only full twice a year- at the beginning and at the end. I'm pretty sure I posted a pic either here or on my socials. It's a fantastic problem to have as a librarian. I'm retired now, but still love to read books for younger readers, especially those by authors I love.
Keep them coming, Stuart Gibbs!
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