Zombie Zoo, by Melanie Abed | Awareness Tour

Zombie Zoo Awareness Tour is presented in partnership* with Melanie Abed and The Children’s Book Review.

Get ready for a wildly fun STEAM-powered adventure full of mystery, unlikely heroes, and wood-eating zombies in Melanie Abed’s Zombie Zoo!

Beneath its delightfully weird premise, Zombie Zoo is a story about finding the courage to trust yourself and others. When quiet naturalist Felix and fiercely independent Ninja uncover a mysterious zombie outbreak threatening their town, they must combine observation, instinct, and scientific thinking to save the day. Along the way, they discover that their differences are their greatest strength, proving that curiosity, creativity, and teamwork can overcome even the most unbelievable challenges.

Filled with laugh-out-loud moments, STEAM-inspired problem-solving, and themes of friendship, resilience, and self-confidence, Zombie Zoo is an unforgettable adventure that continues beyond the final page with hands-on activities perfect for families, classrooms, and homeschoolers alike.

Fast-paced, packed with tantalizing clues, and deliciously suspenseful, Zombie Zoo kicks off the Adventures in Tub series with a debut story guaranteed to keep readers turning the pages.

—The Children’s Book Review, Editor’s Pick

Join us on this virtual book tour for your chance to win big! Ten lucky readers will each score a signed paperback copy of Zombie Zoo by Melanie Abed. And one grand prize winner will hit the jackpot with an epic swag haul: a signed hardcover copy, bookmark, postcard, sticker sheet, Tub Explorer Pin, a sample of Tub’s Green Goo, and a Make Your Own Glow-in-the-Dark Green Goo Kit (instructions included!).

Every single prize ships in a custom Zombie Zoo box, so the adventure kicks off the moment it lands on your doorstep. Ready to dive into this unforgettable STEAM-powered adventure? Enter below!

Zombie Zoo
Virtual Tour Dates

Zombie Zoo Book Giveaway

About the Book

Zombie Zoo: Adventures in Tub (Felix & Ninja, Book 1)

Written by Melanie Abed

Illustrated by Hisham Abed

Ages: 9-13 | 244 Pages

Publisher: Oculus Print (2026) | ISBN: 979-8-9952813-0-6

Publisher’s Book Summary: Thirteen-year-old Felix Fizzystyxx is an aspiring naturalist who observes the world from his hidden tree fort at Wayward Amok Orphanage. When he witnesses glowing green goo and strange behavior in the orphanage, his life as a quiet observer ends. He partners with NINJA, an intense, shadow-dwelling orphan who trusts her instincts and operates alone, to investigate. Together they discover that the orphans—and soon the entire town of Spinachi on the island of Tub—are turning into wood-eating zombies controlled by a hive mind.

Their mentor DOC BRUNNE, an eccentric cartographer-scientist, helps them trace the cause to NOCTILUNA, rare bioluminescent organisms that don’t belong in Spinachi’s freshwater supply. Someone has deliberately contaminated the town’s wells. As Doc himself succumbs to transformation, Felix and Ninja must learn to trust each other across radically different problem-solving styles—Felix’s data and Ninja’s instinct—to find the cure.

Felix discovers that DARK CHOCOLATE—specifically cocoa butter and cocoa powder—creates a barrier that breaks the Noctiluna’s hive-mind connection. In the climax, the duo races to the town’s water tower, where they pour cocoa ingredients into the contaminated supply, triggering a chemical reaction that erupts in a chocolate geyser, raining the cure across all of Spinachi and curing the townspeople.

When the town wakes the next morning, no one believes them—until DR. PEARL, the new town dentist, is caught eating his own sign. Confronted with three pieces of evidence (a slip of the tongue, his too-clean shoes, and a confession from his assistant WILL), Pearl admits he deliberately contaminated the water supply to drum up dental business. Pearl is arrested, but Felix and Ninja realize his supplier in another territory—BLOOMNESIA—is still at large.

Doc reveals that he is the master mapmaker Felix has admired for years and offers to mentor him. Mayor Leafington asks for volunteers to travel to Bloomnesia and trace the Noctiluna to its source. Felix and Ninja—now Official Tub Explorers—accept. The book ends with them heading east, Ninja carrying a scrap of paper with the word “Bloom” written on it—her only clue to her true identity.

ZOMBIE ZOO sets up a five-book series in which Felix and Ninja explore different territories of Tub, each tackling a new supernatural mystery rooted in different STEAM applications.

Buy the Book

About the Author

Melanie Abed is a behavioral expert turned story weaver. She believes dragons are real but hiding, and finds thunderstorms equally delightful and terrifying. A tea-loving bookworm, she champions young minds and writes to help kids discover their superpowers are real.

For more information, visit www.melanieabed.com.

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About the Illustrator

Emmy-winning director Hisham Abed has established himself as a visionary creative force in television, directing commercially successful shows including Netflix’s groundbreaking Queer Eye and Disney’s beloved High School Musical. He is renowned for crafting and creating the distinctive visual aesthetic of MTV’s iconic series Laguna Beach and The Hills. Beyond his directorial achievements, Hisham Abed is an accomplished illustrator whose detailed artwork brings imagination and style to every project he touches.

For more information, visit www.hishamabed.com.

Thanks for following along with us on Melanie Abed’s Zombie Zoo awareness tour!