Discover The Wilder Zoo Series

Tina Strachan is a children’s book author who has spent twenty years working and studying wildlife conservation including through zoo keeping, vet nursing, research and as a conservation officer. These unique experiences provide fodder for her debut middle grade series, Wilder Zoo. Tina lives on the Gold Coast in Queensland with her husband, two boys and their cavoodle.

Strachan has teamed up with Max Hamilton, a graphic designer and illustrator who studied fine art at COFA, NSW, and went on to study graphic design and illustration at Enmore TAFE. He is now, most enthusiastically, a maker of children’s books and enjoys noticing the little details in things and loves to get lost in the world of illustration and stories.

Together, they’ve created the Wilder Zoo series. Recommended for ages 9+, this illustrated adventure series is a special, magical world of animals, friendship, mystery, school problems and family. Collect them all for a wonderful gift to be read, re-read and treasured for years to come. Below, we’ve listed all 3 books so you can see what each one is about! The third and final book, Neeka and the Great Search, is out now!

Book #1: Neeka and the Missing Key

Eleven-year-old Neeka Wilder has always loved animals. She wants to be a vet one day, like her mum, who is the head vet at Wilder Zoo – where Neeka and her family live! Neeka is a great help to the zoo staff in caring for the animals. And she also takes videos of exciting events at the zoo. When the videos are nominated for a big award, Neeka wants to make one more video to help win it. But when Rebel, the cheeky red panda, won’t co-operate, her zoo key goes missing and she’s grounded for a month, it’s a race against the clock to create the new video in time for the awards.

Buy a copy of Neeka and the Missing Key here.

Book #2: Neeka and the Storm

Eleven-year-old Neeka Wilder has always loved animals and is lucky enough to live at Wilder Zoo, where her mum is head vet. The deadline for the school reading challenge is only a few days away and Neeka has a lot of reading to do. Then a wild storm hits. Emergency evacuation plans are put in place and even Neeka’s bedroom turns into an animal nursery. But when the rain stops and the clean-up begins, focusing on reading becomes Neeka’s biggest challenge.

Buy a copy of Neeka and the Storm here.

Book #3: Neeka and the Great Search

Eleven-year-old Neeka Wilder is living her dream – spending her days with wildlife, learning how to be a vet like her mum, and hanging out with Hudson and Rumi, her two best friends. When Hudson and Rumi go away for the school holidays, Neeka creates a big list of zoo jobs to keep herself busy. But her plans go anything but smoothly. With three am wake-ups, video editing fails, friendship troubles, and a search for an injured wild koala joey, Neeka’s life just got a whole lot busier!