Zoobreak

Swindle #2

by Gordon Korman

The sequel to Gordon Korman's SWINDLE---the Man With A Plan is back!

When Griffin Bing's class goes to a floating zoo, they don't expect to see animals being treated so badly. They don't expect to find Cleo, Dog Whisperer Savannah's pet monkey who's been missing for weeks. And they really don't expect to have to hide the animals once they've rescued them!

Hilarity ensues as Griffin's team once more pulls off a heist . . . trying to break the animals back into a (better) zoo!

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Middle Grade, Adventure, Realistic Fiction, Animals, Childrens

242 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Gordon Korman is a Canadian author of children's and young adult fiction books. Korman's books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide over a career spanning four decades and have appeared at number one on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Reviews

[max theodore]

lowkey this book is a youth liberation masterpiece and i'm not joking at all. and also, from the bottom of my heart: of course it's set on long island.

[Harun Ahmed · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5
Not exciting as the first "swindle",still great fun to read.

[Duffy Pratt · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's a kid's caper book, and it has about all the substance that you would expect from a caper book. The characters in the gang are defined by their abilities: there's the climber, the small space guy, the computer wiz, etc... And the "brains" behind the gang is "The Man With The Plan." The plans, of course, go terribly awry. But everything works out in the end.

I've read some reviews where people are concerned about the kind of role models and messages that this might send out to our kids. That's now what bothered me. I was hoping for something more clever and funny. The basic idea is fun. A girl's pet monkey is kidnapped. The kids discover the culprit is the owner of a floating, travelling zoo. No-one will help them get the monkey back, so they take matters into their own hands, but end up stealing all the animals in the zoo, instead of just getting back the monkey. Then they have to take care of the animals, hide them from their parents and the world, while trying to find them good permanent homes.

This could have been hilarious. Instead, it bordered on mildly amusing. But it was quick, and the writing was competent. It's definitely a kids book that's very much for kids. I can imagine some younger kids would like it. But really good kids books are accessible to kids but wonderful for all ages, and this definitely did not fill that bill.

[Timd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it was funny because of the way the story went.I choose this book because of the way he said the story and i like zoo's to.The genre is fiction . The setting will take place in a zoo and school.The description of the main charter ben the one that makes all the plans ,savannah the one that has a lot of pets,griffin a firend of his/hers.The plot summurry was that it started off in court and they say u cant have a monkey on u will driving so then he went and when there on there way home the monkey disapres and then they look and look for it and finley they see it at the zoo so they plan to break them out and more anmlas so they go in there later and let all of the rast go so they dont get in trouble and one of there friends had a dream and the partens where right there and the moom said that there calling the police and the partens. So the main problem is that they got the mokey back but they need to get all the others amalas back in the zo so they dont get in trouble . MY opinion is that its a great book and i really like it.

[Andrea Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little adventure. A fun story to read with kids. Clean enough for kids to read on their own. Great conversation starter.

[Flor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Griffin and his gang do more than one crime in less than two weeks. Well...not exactly crimes. he wanted justice. HE did two zoo breaks and each relatively successfully. He is a master "burglar."

[Hunter Falish]

I have just finished reading Zoobreak, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Griffin Bing the Main character and the gang pull off another plan. This time though it is for Savannah, because her pet monkey Cleopatra has gone missing. Savannah is heartbroken, until one day during their summer break, her friends decide to take her to the new floating zoo that arrived at their town to try cheering her up. As they begin their way through the zoo, everyone is unpleasantly surprised at how mistreated, and poorly kept the animals are. They hurry to get through the zoo, but before they reach the end, Savannah spots a monkey of the same breed as the one she had. She is saddened by this, and suddenly makes a realization about the actions of the monkey towards her, that it is Cleopatra. The gang rushes out of the Zoo, and Griffin creates his plan to get Cleopatra and the rest of the animals away from the harsh conditions they are in. This plan creates another problem for the team after they rescue the animals, they don't have anywhere to hide fifty plus animals from the neighborhood. Their solution, Logan's garden shed.

I really enjoyed all of the occurring problems with Griffins plans that nobody on the team had thought about until after they had already done something, such as where to keep the animals once they had them. Another thing I enjoyed was how they hid all the animals in a garden shed, where all it would take is one curious parent to peek in because they needed a shovel or heard a sound come from their shed. The only thing I did not like was how poorly kept the animals were on the floating zoo. I also thought it was ironic though that Griffin was saving the animals, but yet he kept them all locked up in a small garden shed.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys action stories, the Swindle series, or and young adult who likes a funny story.

[Lea · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a disappointment! The latest works from Gordon Korman, including Swindle, "Schooled", and this book are horrible!
"Zoobreak" was the sequel to "Swindle" and was basically the same book with different details thrown in. It followed the pattern of: Kids get cheated by "bad" adult, police won't help, so kids literally break into someplace and then get caught by police, but the police let them off because the adult whose property the kids broke into was "bad". What kind of message is this sending?? "It's ok to cheat people if they cheat you first"? I'm usually pretty tolerant of stuff like that in books if the story is enjoyable, but this book was just lame. It was boring and had no hint whatsoever of Gordon Korman's earlier humor and hilarious writing style. I hesitate to say this about Korman because his Macdonald Hall books are some of my fave books, but "Zoobreak" was an Epic Fail.

[Areeb Narvel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about a girl named Savannah who loses her pet monkey. She then thinks that someone stole her monkey. A couple of days’ later Savannah and her classmates go to a horrible zoo boat on the water. When they go inside, Savannah looks at a monkey and realizes that it looks just like her pet monkey that was stolen. She gets really mad and the zookeeper has to come and escort them out. Savannah asks Griffin Bing, the man with the plan, to help get her monkey back. He creates a plan that involves all of his friends Griffin, Savannah, Pitch, Ben, Melissa, and Logan. With the help of all these people and their special qualities, he creates a plan to retrieve the stolen monkey. Their main problem is the Zookeeper and Klaus, the security guard. Learning all the secrets of the security, they break into the boat.
Overall this book is suspenseful and keeps you wanting to read more. I thought the ending was kind of sad since they got caught by the police and ended up having to go to jail until their parents came to pick them up but except for that, this one a great book.

[Sha · Rating 4 out of 5]

08 Apr 2021

1. This one was better than the first. Mostly because the logistics of how to transport and care for animals makes it very interesting. It's all a very good natured Robin Hood story and I appreciate that.

2. Savannah's (animal expert) monkey gets stolen by a shady guy running a shady zoo, and there are no legal avenues she can get her back so heist it is. As usual, some things work and others don't. Now they have a blackmailing classmate and houses full of animals.

3. The most hilarious animal keeping adventures went to Logan (I have a huge soft spot for this guy) and Ben, who had an actual habitat in their basement and a very affectionate weasel respectively. Klaus the henchman was great too.

4. Also that cover is glorious whoever came up with the general idea for them is a genius.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Korman has to be one of the hardest working children's authors out there. This LFL find is yet another funny and exciting adventure, with the author's trademark sensitivity to authentic characters and plausible situations... no magic, no unsupervised orphans, no cliched bullies....

Reading the first adventure is not necessary to enjoying this.

I will continue to read the author as I come across his work.

[Vanessa Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was a really good book. In the end the horrible zookeeper was sent to jail. And Klaus was lucky enough to avoid jail considering that he didnt know about the stolen monkey and also saved oobreak group luckily didn't get in trouble but they discovered (the police) that they were the people who stole the baseball card and if they ever found them doing something bad again they were going to jail.

[papasteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another romp by Korman; but it’s clear he sure doesn’t like how kids are treated by adults in an adult world.

[Dillon · Rating 3 out of 5]

don't try to be someone your not

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would give Zoobreak by Gordon Korman, the sequel to Swindle, a thumbs up; it was well written and had an entertaining plotline that was easy to follow. Gordon Korman has a way of writing that isn’t very complicated but does a good job of describing the surroundings and emotions to the reader. This book was narrated from the “All Knowing” point of view, so more description of each characters feelings and actions were given. One of the only downsides to this book is that it doesn’t use a very wide vocabulary.
In this story a young girl named Savannah Drysdale has her monkey, named Cleo, stolen from her home. Savannah calls her pals Griffin and Ben to assist her in searching for the monkey, but they fail to find Cleo. The next day their class travels on a field trip to a traveling zoo, called All aboard Animals. When they arrive at the zoo they find out that it is just a ratty old boat. What was supposedly some amazing zoo was actually just a collection of mediocre animals, such as; chipmunks, an owl, a prairie dog, and some rabbits. It was the zoo’s last and latest exhibit that changed the course of the book; inside the last metal cage was none other than Cleo, Savannah’s monkey. Being an animal expert at age eleven she absolutely knew that was her monkey, and the monkey’s reaction to Savannah were even more evidence to the fact that the monkey in the cage was hers.
After being kicked off the boat, Savannah proceeded to take legal action. Although the only way she could legally get Cleo back, would be from a DNA test, which cost a couple thousand dollars. That left one other option; she’d have to break into the boat. Savannah, Ben, and Griffin round up a team of other kids that each have a special skill to offer to the operation, and together they case the place around and inside the boat. They plan to meet in the middle of the night and with the help of a not so trustworthy or nice kid named Darren, they’ll take Darren’s boat a sail to the All aboard Animals. Darren doesn’t show up but the team still makes it over to the traveling zoo. They manage to break in and save Cleo, but instead of just saving the monkey they end up saving all of the animals!
When they return back to their little town, the team divides up the animals and assigns each member to house certain animals until they could find a place to put them. The police were onto them and so were the manager and security guard of the boat that they had broken into! They then broke into a nearby zoo and stashed all of the stolen animals in the zoo’s exhibits. Darren had told the two men from the floating zoo about the zoo break plan and so the two men went after the team of 6th graders to stop them and take back their stolen animals. Darren’s mother knew Darren was hiding something from her, so she got him to spill the beans. Darren explained the whole story, and his mother called the zoo break team’s parents and notified the police.
Ben and Griffin were in the Reptile house when the two evil men came in and confronted them. The boat’s owner, Mr. Nastase, threatened the kids and during his long rant he confessed that he had stolen Cleo and many of his other animals. Klaus, Mr. Nastase’s security guard, was shocked that his boss had purchased all of their animals illegally. In a series of events, Mr. Nastase ended up trying to defend himself from a crocodile, Griffin was protecting himself, Klaus was on the floor with a tranquilizer dart in his chest, and Ben was on the ground asleep due to his narcolepsy. The police arrived and arrested the two men for illegal purchasing of animals and the mistreating of animals. Mr. Nastase’s punishment would be fifteen hundred hours of community service for a wildlife preservation group in the mail room, because he was banned from ever having direct contact with animals again. He would have had jail time if it wasn’t for his testimonial against the stolen animal ring. Klaus was let off the hook and was given the job to move the broken down paddleboat out of the harbor. The children in the end were let off the hook because they were children and had good intentions.
I would recommend this book to people who like adventure and mischief. It’s a great book for all reading levels, and it’s the kind of book you only have to read once to understand and enjoy. I couldn’t put it down once I started; it has an addictive plot line even though at times some of the events can seem amazing for sixth graders to be pulling off, let alone a regular adult. I give Zoobreak by Gordon Korman five out of five stars, and I encourage you to go a read it.

[Carissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so good. It is really funny while being suspemseful.

[Elizabeth Horton · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I can't really remember this book but I do remember enjoying it when I was currently reading it.

[Joshua B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zoobreak by: Gordon Korman
Realistic Fiction
Finiished May 7th 2013

Zoobreak by Gordon Korman is a book about five kids who try to rescue a monkey that was stolen from them. The main characters in this book are: Griffen, Ben, Logan, Melissa, and Savannah. Griffen is known as the “man with the plan”. Ben is a smaller boy who has a sleep disorder that causes him to fall asleep at odd times. Logan is a boy who really enjoys acting. Melissa is a shy girl with long hair that covers her face and is good with technology . Savannah is a girl who knows everything there is to know about animals. One day Savannah let her pet monkey, Cleo, outside to play. When she returned to let Cleo in, she was missing. Savannah searched all night for Cleo, but could not find her. Later that week, when Savannah visited the zoo, she saw a monkey that looked exactly like Cleo. Savannah told her friends about this. Griffen, the man with the plan, comes up with a plan to help Savannah get Cleo back. During the mission to save Cleo, something goes terribly wrong.

I gave this book a 4 star rating because I love how this book is part of a series. This is book number two in the series. I also liked the unique story line. Another thing I enjoyed about this book was its unique characters and qualities. For example, Ben’s sleeping disorder was very unusual. I also liked that this book was nothing like the first book in the series. I have read other book series that seem to be re-runs of the first book. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[Anastasia Tuckness · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very similar to its predecessor, Swindle, this book will delight those who enjoy a fun caper.

Griffin and his gang are once again determined to show the adult world that kids are capable of great things. Animal lover Savannah's monkey has gone missing--but shows up on a floating zoo they visit during a field trip. Nothing will deter her and the gang from retrieving her monkey--not a huge body of water, nor an intense security fence, nor a round-the-clock security guard.

Of course, although Griffin devises a detailed plan, many things go awry, but nothing that can't be wrapped up neatly by the end of the book!

Highly recommended for kids who enjoy funny, fast-paced books.

Spoiler details:
--They get the monkey, then Savannah makes everyone take all the animals, which they have to keep in their homes for a while. Hilarious scenes of them keeping wild animals in basements, dressers, etc.
--Ben crawls through the security ducts to get in; the security guard gets stuck in them.
--They bike to and from the water, in the middle of the night, with the animals, which is a fun scene too.
--Logan persuades the guard that he wants to grow up to be a guard.
--Ben is supposed to go to a boarding school for narcolepsy treatment; the ferret turns out to be a great treatment.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is all about getting Savannah's monkey, Cleopatra back. Then by a complete surprise they see Cleopatra at a very bad zoo where none of the animals are getting what they need. Then they get kicked out of the zoo because Savannah goes crazy because she knows that is her monkey and the person whos giving the tour refuse to admit to it. Then Griffin or the "man with a plain" and Ben decide to get the monkey back. After a long day Griffin finally made a plain including a lot of different people in their class all having different little jobs for the mission. Then they had to go back to the zoo to make sure their plain would work and it ended up their plain wasn't going to work s they made a new one. Then they see that The mean guy who kicked them out the other day steels the animals and they saw it. So now they have to not only save Cleo but all the other animals and get them to a zoo but that's tricky. But they do it even with a evil nasty guy with a tranquilizer and a alligator on the loose but the man with a plain finally gets all the animals out and saves Cleopatra.

I didn't love this book because it wasn't the book i usually read but it wasn't a bad book. The book did describe the characters very well and the plot was good. I just didn't think it was realistic even though the book is realistic fiction.

[Tylor]

this book is a big time fiction book i dont think anyone can trully pull off what they did in this book. the setting is that they are looking for this monkey that was stolen then they have to keep all of these animals in their house because they dont want them being shipped away on this boat. thee chraters are ben and he is the man with the plan if there is ever a problem he would be the one to call because he can figure out any plan at all then there are a bunch of his friends that help him out along the way.the problem is first of all getting the monkey after all of that they get the animals and save them from getting shipped then they have too put them back in the zoo and they have too try and not get caught.they slove this by just being smart and using his plan. the reason why i picked this boo is because i9t looked funny and i read the first one and it was funny and pretty good this boo was ok it was pretty funny and another thing that i like is that it is really creative like there are things in that book that cannot beleieve i mean things happen that wouldnt even think off its pretty cool i enjoyed this book and im glad i read it.

[Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a girl named savannah who let her pet monkey outside to play and ect. When she went to go and get her she was gone. She knows that she wouldnt run away so she thinks someone stole her. The next day she went a school field trip to an All Aboard Animals boat zoo. There she saw in a cage her moknley cleopatra. She goes and tells the teacher that its her monkey in the cage but the teacher doesnt believe her. So Savannah went and told the zoo keeper and was yelling at him saying that you stole my monkey. The owner knew he stole the monkey so he made the driver of the boat turn around and go back eneding the tour 20 minutes early. After the trip she went to her friend griffen Bing who is "the man with the plan". She asked him to help break cleopatra out of the zoo. Griffin got all of his friends together and went to break her out of the zoo. So instead of breaking just cleopatra out they took all of there animals and moved them to a local zoo without trying to get caught one of the team members Darren Vader told his mom about them and she went and got the police.

[Raafay Ahmed]

When Griffin and Ben go looking with Luther to find Cleopatra and come back with a banana, Savannah is sure Cleopatra has been kidnapped. Savannah is sure this is no accident and that Swindle has kidnapped Cleopatra. This book includes a fast paced action packed plot. For example in Zoobreak, "The hijacks from Swindle would never end this was a never ending game" (26). This shows how there is a lot of action.

I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a action packed book with an exciting plot. I do not recommend this book to people who do not enjoy a action based plots. Overall I love this book because of its great plot.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, again, shows the effect of a burglary. This would not have been a big deal if they had not taken all of those animals. Mr. Nastase stole one of Savannah's pets and it made a huge deal. She has tons of pets but she needs every single little pet. That is how she rolls. An evil zoo keeper had stolen it. The crew broke into a zoo to get the pet back but Savannah wanted to bring all of those animals. They stole all the animals and hid them in their houses. The zoo keeper eventually found out where they are so the kids broke them into another zoo to hide them.

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun book for any one, this is targeted for ages 8-12. Korman is probably the best dialogue writer around - for any age. Regardless of how complex the vocabulary is, all his dialogue tells you something about the person saying it or moves the plot forward or both. In addition to that, it's hysterically funny. One of the best children's authors working today.

[Jade C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has 230 pages of planing. The main persons is Griffin and his 5 friends I am like Savanna his one out of 5 friends because she likes animals and I do to. I gave this book a 5 because I really like animals.The end whats you what to now what will happen in the other books. You would like this book if you like animals and Mystery.

[Jen · Rating 2 out of 5]

These books were recommended by my 10 year old. I had hoped in the second book, the kids could put their talents to use in a scheme that was less illegal and more believable, but that is not the case. From what my son tells me, they continue this trend throughout the series. It's just too much for me. I'll leave him to it, but I'll be watching him closely for criminal tendencies...

[Dj · Rating 5 out of 5]

An awesome fast paced action packed book. If want action,drama, and suspence read zoobreak By Gordon Korman

[Joely Tatsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I personally love ALL of the books written by Gordon Korman.
But this book is full of unexpected surprises you wouldn't think would happen.
A very good book.

[Bradyw · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think it was really good I really do think people should read it.