Middle School: It's a Zoo in Here!
Author: James Patterson
Illustrator: Jomike Tejido
Author: Brian Sitts
Book 14 in the Middle School series
Pages: 296
Published: 2022
Age: 8+
Rafe feels like a caged lion at his summer job at the zoo—until a real lion desperately needs his help.
Rafe Khatchadorian is days away from sweet, sweet summer freedom until bad grades threaten to land him in... SUMMER SCHOOL.
It’s impossible to fail out of a summer job, right? Wrong. He strikes out at the zoo then grosses out at a billionaire's country club:
- Digging a pit for the annual clambake
- Scrubbing chewed bubblegum, sooty fireplaces, and...toilets
- Polishing the chrome on his boss's ATV.
Rafe is destined for the Failed Jobs Hall of Fame until an encounter with an endangered lion puts his wildlife knowledge to the test...and it's more than his grade on the line this time.
About the Middle School Series
Books in series order
- 1.Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life(2011)
- 2.Middle School: Get Me Out of Here!(2012)
- 3.Middle School: My Brother is a Big, Fat Liar(2013)
- 4.Middle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill(2013)
- 5.Middle School: Ultimate Showdown(2014)
- 6.Middle School: Save Rafe!(2014)
- 7.Middle School: Just My Rotten Luck(2015)
- 8.Middle School: Dog's Best Friend(2016)
- 9.Middle School: Escape to Australia(2017)
- 10.Middle School: From Hero to Zero(2018)
- 11.Middle School: Born to Rock(2019)
- 12.Middle School: Master of Disaster(2020)
- 13.Middle School: Field Trip Fiasco(2021)
- 14.Middle School: It's a Zoo in Here!(2022)
- 15.MIddle School: Winter Blunderland(2022)
- 16.Middle School: Million Dollar Mess(2024)
- 17.Too Uncool For School(2025)
- +Middle School: Going Bush(2016)
- +Middle School: How I Got Lost in London(2014)
- +Middle School: Rafe's Aussie Adventure(2015)
Reading age: 8–12 years
This series should be read in order.
Rafe Khatchadorian has enough problems at home without throwing his first year of middle school into the mix. Luckily, he's got an ace plan for the best year ever, if only he can pull it off...
With his best friend Leonardo the Silent awarding him points, Rafe tries to break every rule in his school's oppressive Code of Conduct. Chewing gum in class – 5,000 points! Running in the hallway – 10,000 points! Pulling the fire alarm – 50,000 points! But when Rafe's game starts to catch up with him, he'll have to decide if winning is all that matters, or if he's finally ready to face the rules, bullies, and truths he's been avoiding.
Acclaimed author James Patterson delivers a genuinely hilarious – and surprisingly poignant – series about a wildly imaginative, one-of-kind kid that you won't soon forget.
[Teachers' Pick series]