A Family for Zoya - Perfect Picture Book Friday #PPBF

Maria Marshall
2 minutes ago
5 min read

Having watched a number of my zoo's baby gorillas fostered by their grandmother or sent to another zoo for fostering, I was intrigued by the story of little Zoya. The only surviving cub , from a litter of five, rejected by their first-time mother. This is a wonderful nonfiction picture book exploring a little cub's determination, journey, and the zookeepers who fought so hard for her through stunning illustrations and touching text.

Book cover - a mother tiger stands, brushing her cheek against her adopted cub.

A Family For Zoya: The True Story of an Endangered Cub

Author: Debra Kim Wolf

Illustrators: Marina Durante and Annalisa Durante

Publisher: Platypus Media (July 1, 2025)

Ages: 6 - 9

Nonfiction

Themes:

Zoos, Amur Tigers, adoption, animals, conservation, and compassion.

Synopsis:

This heartwarming true story follows Zoya, the only surviving cub of critically endangered Amur tigers at the Philadelphia Zoo. After her mother rejects her, dedicated zoo staff race to find her a new family. They discover Lola, a Sumatran tiger who has just given birth to three cubs at the Oklahoma Zoo, and venture out with Zoya to try something that has never been successfully done before.

Zoya is transported across the country to meet Lola. The zookeepers anxiously wait to see how Lola will respond to this unfamiliar cub. Will she accept Zoya into her den? Will Lola have enough milk for all four cubs? Will Zoya adapt to her new family, even though she looks and acts differently? As Zoya grows, her story is marked by moments of uncertainty and hope, leaving animal lovers to wonder what the future holds for her and the survival of her species.

Her remarkable journey highlights the profound bonds that unite all creatures and underscores the vital importance of conservation efforts. After meeting Zoya and reading her story, continue on for more fascinating facts about Amur tigers and learn how the Tiger Conservation Campaign and Tiger Species Survival Plan® contribute to their future. Discover how fresh genes can be introduced into the wild population to make them healthier, efforts to reduce poaching, and how villagers are helping to build tiger-proof pens for their farm animals!

Opening Lines:

In a cozy den in the Philadelphia Zoo, newborn Zoya let out a tiny whine.

Mew, mew! She was so hungry. But her mother, Koosaka, turned away and

wouldn’t feed her.

Did you know? Zoya is a rare Amur tiger (they used to be called “Siberian” tigers). Thousands

of these huge cats once roamed the frozen ground and dark forests of Russia and Northern China.

Now only a few hundred are left in the wild, and many are sick.

What I LOVED about this book:

After her mom ignores Zoya's pitiful crying, we follow along through Zoya's point of view, as the zookeepers step in with warm blankets and bottles., helping the reader empathize with this tiny cub.

Internal spread - on the left, a cub lies in a cave on a bed of straw, crying. On the right, the torso and arms of a keeper cradle the tiger cub on a blanket and fed her with a bottle.

Text © Debra Kim Wolf, 2025. Image © Marina & Annalisa Durante, 2025.

I really enjoyed the succinct "Did you know?" notes at the bottom of most of the pages and their offering of fascinating additional information on Zoya, tigers, the fostering plan, and conservation. They are great extensions to the core story. Such as here, on the right side - "Did you know? Zoya was one of five cubs, but sadly, her four siblings didn't survive long after they were born. To bring a bit of good luck, the zookeepers named the surviving cub Zoya, which means “life” in Russian."

Knowing that it was best for Zoya to be raised by a tiger and not people, her keepers at the Philadelphia Zoo reached out to the Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden - almost 1,300 miles away. Kids will enjoy all the little, realistic touches which Marina & Annalisa Durante weave throughout the softly colored and tender illustrations. Especially seeing Zoya snuggling with her own special blanket and traveling in a carrier like their own cat or dog.

Internal spread - on the left, a zoo keeper steps out of the Zoo's clinic carrying Zoya swaddled in a fuzzy blanket. On the right, a plastic carrier sits strapped into the back seat of a car, with with cub inside.

Text © Debra Kim Wolf, 2025. Image © Marina & Annalisa Durante, 2025.

The two zoos decided to try experiment. To see if a Sumatran tiger mom, Lola, who had cubs about the same age, would foster Zoya. Since such fostering was rarely successful, especially between two different tiger species, everyone held their breath. With a tender touch and honesty, Debra Kim Wolf details how the keepers mimicked a mother tiger in their care of Zoya and how they transferred the scents of the den and other cubs onto Zoya. Hoping against hope that Lola wouldn't reject or even hurt Zoya. It must have been a bit confusing for Lola to step out of the den for a bite and return to four (instead of three) babies.

Internal spread - a mother tiger walking back into her den from outside, to discover a mysterious fourth cub lying the straw where she'd left her triplets.

While I adore the next spread of Lola's investigation of Zoya and her tender grooming acceptance of her mystery fourth cub, but it's also another set of two spreads and I really wanted to highlight one of the stunning full-page spreads that Marina & Annalisa Durante have created with such wonderful detail. They are so realistic.

While Lola was accepting, it took Zoya a while and a bit of encouragement from her new mom to understand how to be a tiger. Afterall, until now, if she cried, she got a bottle. She'd never had to try and find a mom for food. Which was slightly complicated by the fact that her eyes weren't open yet. To everyone's relief, the experiment worked, and Lola turned out to be a wonderful foster mom for Zoya.

The risk paid off. Wonderful scenes of the growing tiger family and a touching ending are largely due to the amazing caring and love that Lola gave to all four of her cubs. Unknowingly, and single-handedly, Lola helped contribute to the conservation and preservation of her endangered cousins.

Wrapped within this heartfelt and joyous picture book of a lucky tiger cub who found a family, is a "deeper message: . . . that small acts of kindness, for animals or people, can make a big difference." A vivid example of the power and need for compassion and understanding that our differences don't have to define us. Great back matter explores more about Zoya, and the history and risks facing Amur tigers. This is a wonderful nonfiction picture book on tigers, foster families, and animal conservation.

Resources:

try some of the 10 ways to make a paper tiger or a toilet paper roll tiger marionette,

do you know of other animals who have formed foster families? Write about or draw an image of the strangest animal foster family you can imagine?

check out the book's teacher's guide (here), with reading guides and fun activities and experiments for 1st to 5th grades.

pair this with Finding Family: The Duckling Raised by Loons by Laura Purdie Salas, illustrated by Alexandria Neonakis, One Big Happy Family: Heartwarming Stories of Animals Caring for One Another by Lisa Rogak, Owen & Mzee by Isabella & Craig Hatkoff, and Suryia & Roscoe by Bhagavan “Doc” Antle and Thea Feldman, photos by Barry Bland

If you missed my interview with Debra Wolf on Monday, find it (here).

This post is part of a series of blog posts by authors and KidLit bloggers called Perfect Picture Book Fridays. For more picture book suggestions and resources see Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Books.