The remarkable true story of a family who move into a rundown zoo-already a BBC documentary miniseries and excerpted in The Guardian. In the market for a house and an adventure, Benjamin Mee moved his family to an unlikely new home: a dilapidated zoo in the English countryside. Mee had a dream to refurbish the zoo and run it as a family business. His friends and colleagues thought he was crazy. But in 2006, Mee and his wife with their two children, his brother, and his 76-year-old mother moved into the Dartmoor Wildlife Park. Their extended family now included: Solomon, an African lion and scourge of the local golf course; Zak, the rickety Alpha wolf, a broadly benevolent dictator clinging to power; Ronnie, a Brazilian tapir, easily capable of killing a man, but hopelessly soppy; and Sovereign, a jaguar and would-be ninja, who has devised a long term escape plan and implemented it. Nothing was easy, given the family's lack of experience as zookeepers, and what follows is a magical exploration of the mysteries of the animal kingdom, the power of family, and the triumph of hope over tragedy. We Bought a Zoo is a profoundly moving portrait of an unforgettable family living in the most extraordinary circumstances.

Gerald tells of the very unusual animals he would add to the zoo, if he were in charge.

Rhyming text depicts the chaos caused by shouting at the zoo.

After a young girl tells the zookeepers to send the animals to her house should anything go wrong at the zoo, a series of zoo emergencies results in some unusual houseguests for the girl and her family.

A grandfather and grandchild go to the zoo, where they count animals from one to ten.

They say a leopard can’t change his spots–but Spot sure can! Babies and toddlers will love pointing out the colors of his changing spots in this delightful, rhyming adaptation of Robert Lopshire’s classic Bright and Early Book.

When little Lulu gets an idea, watch out! After a chat with the animals at the zoo, she sneaks all of the animals into her house, where “there’s room for you all, from elephant to mouse.” Or so she thinks, until she tries to fit a bear into the bathtub . . . Before the zookeepers can bring the animals back to the zoo, though, bold Lulu dreams up a new place for her animal friends to live. And four-year-olds can be very persuasive. Children will love this rollicking, read-aloud tale matched by hilarious illustrations.