In this historical fiction companion to The Rhino in Right Field,
Nick's summer gets way more exciting when a polar bear escapes from the
local zoo--perfect for fans of Stuart Gibbs and The One and Only
Ivan.
It's 1948, and twelve-year-old Nick is ready for the best summer ever.
He's going to hang out with his best pal, Ace, and maybe with Penny
too--she is a girl, but she has a great throwing arm! Then things get
wild when a polar bear escapes from Milwaukee's city zoo and appears
right on his block. They're all going to have to keep their eyes open
now.
But Nick's grand plans start to crumble when Ace gets a paper route and
Penny decides to share it with him. Now they're never around. Nick
himself is working at his Uncle Spiro's frozen custard shop, but at
least he gets free all-you-can-eat frozen custard. When Uncle Spiro
opens a custard stand at the zoo, Nick volunteers to help--if that polar
bear escapes again, he'll have a front row seat!
Only their competitor, Happy Harold, opens a stand of his own. Now Nick
is scrambling to keep their customers, especially because Happy keeps
playing dirty tricks. When Penny discovers that someone may have let the
polar bear out on purpose, Nick suspects it might be Happy. With
mysteries to solve and a whole zoo-full of monkey business, it looks
like Nick's summer won't be so boring after all!