After the Zoo Closes
A seven-book picture-book series for ages 4–6. Once the visitors leave and the gates lock, the young animals get to work — building hot-air balloons, submarines, airships, and steam trains in their workshops, and slipping out for one quiet adventure each before bedtime. Shown here in shipping order.
Coming SoonAges 4–6Book 1 of 7Pim the Sloth and the Hot-Air Balloon
Book 1 of After the Zoo Closes
When the visitors leave and the gates lock, Pim the sloth climbs slowly, slowly into the basket of a hot-air balloon. The series opens at the pace of its smallest hero — a quiet drift over pastel-spring skies.
- Coming SoonAges 4–6Book 2 of 7
Otis the Hippo and the Submarine
Book 2 of After the Zoo Closes
Real hippos walk on the bottoms of rivers — most readers don't know that. Otis takes the trick to its limit, climbing into a submarine and walking the seabed of the deep ocean. The biological-reveal book of the series.
- Coming SoonAges 4–6Book 3 of 7
Posy the Giraffe and the Biplane
Book 3 of After the Zoo Closes
Posy can refuel her biplane without a ladder, hear the control tower from a long way off, and read altitude wrong because her head is already in the clouds before takeoff. The series's cheerful daylight comedy.
- Coming SoonAges 4–6Book 4 of 7
Vesper the Bat and the Airship
Book 4 of After the Zoo Closes
Night-shift animal, night-shift vehicle. Vesper's sonar maps the pitch-dark sky for an airship that slides through it like a moth. The series's eerie-quiet outlier — a deeper breath at the midpoint.
- Coming SoonAges 4–6Book 5 of 7
Marlowe the Octopus and the Helicopter
Book 5 of After the Zoo Closes
Eight arms, eight controls — Marlowe is the only pilot in the series who could fly the helicopter at all. Any other animal would crash it. The series's peak-energy urban action book.
- Coming SoonAges 4–6Book 6 of 7
Hugo the Elephant and the Steam Train
Book 6 of After the Zoo Closes
Hugo's trunk is the coal shovel, the steam whistle, and the brake lever all at once. His memory holds the whole rail map. The train is just a hand-tool extension of the elephant — the series's heroic-scale book.
- Coming SoonAges 4–6Book 7 of 7
Hazel the Beaver and the Paddle Steamer
Book 7 of After the Zoo Closes — series finale
Hazel gnaws her boat into being right on the page — the vehicle is the craft is the animal. The series closes on a snow-edged winter river, and the quiet thread running through all seven books finally lands.