ZOE IN WONDERLAND

Coretta Scott King Honor winner Brenda Woods introduces Zoe Reindeer, an endearing eleven-year-old who sees herself as "just Zoe" and who's afraid her real life will never be as exciting as her imaginary one.

Zoe Reindeer considers herself "just Zoe"--not measuring up to her too-perfect older sister and her smarty-pants little brother. Truthfully, though, she'd rather just blend in with the plants at the family business, Doc Reindeer's Exotic Plant Wonderland. That is until a tall astronomer from Madagascar comes into the nursery looking for a Baobab tree, and starts a ball rolling that makes Zoe long for real adventures, not just imaginary ones. Then when tragedy strikes the family, forcing them to relocate, they find themselves on a plane heading to Hawaii. To Zoe, it feels like her first real adventure.

Brenda Woods was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, grew up in southern California, and attended California State University, Northridge. Her award-winning books for young readers include THE BLOSSOMING UNIVERSE OF VIOLET DIAMOND (a CCBC choice and a Kirkus Best Book), Coretta Scott King Honor winner THE RED ROSE BOX, ALAN Pick SAINT LOUIS ARMSTRONG BEACH, and VOYA Top Shelf Fiction selection EMAKO BLUE. Her numerous awards and honors include the Judy Lopez Memorial Award, FOCAL award, Pen Center USA's Literary Award finalist, IRA Children's Choice Young Adult Fiction Award, and ALA Quick Pick. She lives in the Los Angeles area.