Teddy Fitzroy
Teddy is the 12-year-old narrator and protagonist of the novel. He introduces himself in the book’s opening line as the kind of kid who gives the chimps in the zoo water balloons and so you immediately get a handle on what type of boy Teddy is. He is resourceful, a bit isolated from the hasher realities of the world beyond the zoo since both his mother and father are very dedicated to their jobs which take them away from the role parent for long stretches of time (but who immediately rise to the occasion when it is required) and also immediately lets the reader know he is being bullied. All these aspects of things about Teddy which are learned right from the start will come into play as he pursues what appears to be a murder in FunJungle, a very popular zoo/amusement park hybrid.
Harry the Hippo
It is Harry the Hippo who has gone belly up and Teddy learns that the beloved star attraction and unquestioned mascot of FunJungle was, indeed, the victim of sinister forces. This is not merely his own deduction: Teddy surreptitiously views the autopsy conducted by the park’s top vet, Doc Deakin, and it is the Doc’s conclusion that Harry did not die a typically noble hippo death.
Marge O’Malley
By the second paragraph of the book, the big-boned security guard at FunJungle has earned a Pee Wee Herman nickname—Large Marge—and been identified by Teddy as his own personal adult bully. Marge is constantly on the lookout for Teddy’s transgressions of acceptable behavior. Of course, by Teddy’s own confessional opening line, he has kind of set himself up for this oppressive behavior. He is a prankster, after all, and if you people like Large Marge a badge they, by gum, are going to use it.
Summer McCracken
If it weren’t for Summer, there might not even be a FunJungle. She is the teenage daughter of billionaire J.J. McCracken who built the park partly to alleviate her disappointment at finding out that no safari company in the world was willing to risk the insurance coverage needed to allow a seven-year-old girl to take part. The other big part of the reason that J.J. built FunJungle, of course, is that it promised to be a money-printing operation. Summer (who in what can only be a termed a completely inexplicable oversight does not have a brother named Phil) will soon come into conflict with daddy when she joins Teddy on his quest to get to the bottom of Harry the Hippo’s untimely demise.
Martin del Gato
Martin is the park’s director of operations. What that means is that he is the day-to-day manager. What that means is that is more concerned with efficiency that almost anything else having to do with the actual daily processes of life. Anyone who has seen Jurassic Park knows what that means. There are sequels to this book, but, well, don’t expect Martin to be around for most of them. Or, perhaps, for any of them.
Buck Grassley
Buck Grassley is the head of the park’s security operations. Of course, we already know that Large Marge possibly abuses her position in order to perhaps bully Teddy, so it becomes a question of whether Buck is one of those security guys who really cares about the security of people (and animals) or is he more like one of those Scooby-Doo types who is only interested in securing profits? Don’t expect a spoiler here but do keep in mind that one of the pervasive thematic elements of the story is that perception does not always necessarily match up perfectly with the facts at hand.
Pete Thwacker
Pete Thwacker is in charge of public relations for the park. Anyone who has watched even the merest sampling of TV or movies know that PR people generally speaking do not come off as, well, drenched in morality. Actually, the facts of the case is that Pete is not really all that important to the plot. He is only mentioned here because he has, by far, the coolest name of any character in the book.
