"An intensely personal, behind-the-scenes look at modern zoos, written in a lively, accessible style. Through a variety of true stories, some funny, some sad, occurring in different cities and on different continents, Bonner describes the changing role of zoos and argues that conservation is the shared responsibility of all mankind"--Provided by publisher.

After a class trip to a floating zoo where animals are mistreated and Savannah's missing pet monkey is found in a cage, Long Island sixth-grader Griffin Bing and his band of misfits plan a rescue.

"Marlin, a stutterer, can talk smoothly and freely with the jungle animals that populate his father's zoo in South America--until a mysterious man-eating black jaguar that his father catches and brings back home talks back"--