A strange outbreak on the island of Tub begins with an especially alarming symptom: orphans are turning into wood-eating zombies. In Zombie Zoo, thirteen-year-old naturalist Felix Fizzystyxx can no longer remain safely in his tree fort observing the world from a distance. Solving what is happening in Spinachi means joining forces with Ninja, a fiercely instinctive investigator whose methods are very different from his own. Their partnership gives this supernatural mystery an unusual engine, pairing scientific observation with intuition as the two trace a contaminated water supply, a glowing substance, and a plague that was deliberately unleashed. With biology, chemistry, and the scientific method woven into the mystery itself, Melanie Abed gives the zombie adventure a decidedly curious streak.
Zombie Zoo
Adventures in Tub (Felix & Ninja, Book 1)
Upper Middle Grade
Date Published: 09-15-2026
Publisher: Oculus Print
ZOMBIE ZOO is Book 1 in a five-book middle grade adventure series for readers ages 8-13, blending paranormal mystery, zombies, unlikely friendship, and STEAM-powered problem-solving.
To find a cure, Felix must team up with Ninja, a shadow-dwelling orphan who trusts her instincts and never backs down. Intense and razor-sharp, she notices what others overlook and lives up to her name as the island's most mysterious sleuth. With their eccentric mentor Doc Brunne compromised and the town's water supply contaminated by a glowing bioluminescent substance, the two mismatched investigators must combine scientific observation with sharp intuition to stop the outbreak before their island home is devoured.
Featuring diverse protagonists, quirky humor, spooky-but-fun scares, and strong female and male leads. ZOMBIE ZOO is ideal for reluctant readers and fans of Max Brallier's The Last Kids on Earth, B.B. Alston's Amari and the Night Brothers, and Goosebumps. Comprehensive educator resources-including discussion guides, vocabulary lists, STEAM extension activities, and printable maps-support classroom use, library programming, book clubs, and make this title ideal for cross-curricular lessons bridging ELA, STEAM, and SEL.
Zombie Zoo makes its investigation depend on two very different ways of understanding a problem. Felix approaches the outbreak as an aspiring naturalist, observing evidence and looking for explanations, while Ninja notices details and trusts instincts that Felix might miss. That contrast matters because the mystery itself is built around clues with scientific possibilities: contaminated water, bioluminescence, patterns, and a plague affecting the island's orphans.
The wood-eating zombies add the wonderfully odd complication that Tub itself is vulnerable. Stopping the outbreak is therefore about more than escaping monsters; Felix and Ninja have to understand what is happening and find a cure before their wooden island home is devoured. For younger readers who like their spooky stories mixed with puzzles, humor, and experiments in thinking, the premise gives them plenty to investigate alongside the characters.
Young mystery solvers who enjoy following evidence may find Felix and Ninja's investigation especially appealing, while the wood-eating zombies and threatened island give horror-loving middle grade readers a supernatural hook without abandoning the book's stated spooky-but-fun approach. The STEAM elements also make this an interesting match for children who like asking how things work rather than simply accepting that something strange has happened.
The story may have particular appeal for ages 8-13 who enjoy unlikely partnerships, eccentric settings, and protagonists whose different strengths become useful when adults cannot solve the problem for them. Its educator resources also give teachers, librarians, book clubs, and families ways to extend the fictional mystery into conversations and activities involving science, language arts, and social-emotional learning.
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A town called Spinachi, an island called Tub, and zombies with an appetite for wood give Zombie Zoo a playfully peculiar identity before the investigation even begins. The more interesting idea beneath that setup, though, is the partnership between two orphan outsiders who solve problems differently. Felix's observations do not make Ninja's instincts unnecessary, and Ninja's sharp perception does not make Felix's scientific thinking irrelevant. Their differences are part of the solution.
That makes this first Felix & Ninja adventure worth watching for middle grade readers who prefer mysteries that give them clues to consider rather than asking them only to outrun the monster. When the monster also happens to be eating the island, solving the science becomes rather urgent.
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