Mango, Brash, Cilantro and the rest of the team are busy with other assignments when a new threat involving burglaries in Bora Bora comes up. It’s down to the B-Team of Marsha and Bongo to solve the mystery. But they’ve already been brought to task for overspending the InvestiGator’s Agents budget—flying first class, destroying expensive billboards, brutally bashing their plane into the farmers’ market, covering recovered bank bills with artisan small-batch honey, and destroying their top-of-the-line tech. The InvestiGator General is not pleased, to put it politely. After a low-budget trip to the teeny low-tech islands, can they use their brains (and not much else) to solve the break-ins and burglaries? Who is BEEhind all the pineapple tasting stuff? Can they stay undercover and under budget?
Volume two is a by-now-expected mix of constant puns and pop culture references that will amuse both the kids and the parents. There have been seven InvestiGators books, and this is the second one of the spin-off series Agents of S.U.I.T. If you haven’t read one of John Patrick Green’s books before, the storyline operates like a lot of animated kids’ movies these days; the humor operates on two levels – one for the kids and one for the adults. (For example: “One should never chase a waterfall,” and, “you’re going to like the way you look—I guarantee it.”) It’s not the 8-year-olds that would get these jokes, but there are plenty of laughs for them too: “There was NO WAY I was getting in the machine!” and, “No….wait…you were right this time.”)
This book, as with all the InvestiGator books, is perfect for kids ages 7-12, and encourage learning new vocabulary. Marsha is quite loquacious and this irritates Bongo who refuses to look a word up, even when Marsha uses it repeatedly.
This title is a standalone book. You don’t have to read the previous one to enjoy this one, but kids will want to! InvestiGators is one of my library’s most circulating middle reader comics, so having new ones to purchase is great.
The Epilogue is also very funny. Kids who like The Bad Guys, Catstronauts, or Dog Man might like this.
InvestiGators: Agents of S.U.I.T.: From Badger to Worse
By John Patrick Green, Christopher Hastings
Art by Pat Lewis
Macmillan First Second, 2024
ISBN: 9781250852397
Publisher Age Rating: 7-10
NFNT Age Recommendation: Middle Grade (7-11)
