The Zoo, Jawnie Payne
The Zoo, Jawnie Payne
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The Zoo
The Inside Story

Author: Jawnie Payne, Neon Squid

Series: Inside Story

Narrator: Melinda Sewak

Unabridged: 49 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/09/2025


Synopsis

Find out what goes on behind the scenes at a zoo in this nonfiction audiobook by zookeeper and TikTok sensation Jawnie Payne.

The Zoo features sound design and special effects to enhance your listening enjoyment. Listen out for calls of the flamingos and chattering monkeys!

This gentle story is a perfect gift for kids who love animals or are going on a trip to the zoo. It follows the exploits of several characters over the course of a busy day–including zookeepers, a school trip, and some very mischievous animals! Along the way listeners will discover how the creatures are fed and kept entertained, as well as what goes on once the zoo shuts for the day!

By the end of the audiobook kids will have a newfound respect for all of the work that goes on to make every zoo experience memorable.

A Macmillan Audio production from Neon Squid.

About Jawnie Payne

Jawnie Payne is a zookeeper at the Cincinnati Zoo in the USA. Payne has more than a quarter of a million followers on TikTok. She went viral when she posted a video of her wishing a happy Thanksgiving to all the animals. She previously worked at Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Fort Worth Zoo, Nashville Zoo, and San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The Zoo is her first book.

About Susan Deming

Susan Deming is an illustrator based in San Francisco. One of her favorite jobs was the several years she spent teaching art in public schools to children 6-11. Susan’s favorite books are science or nature nonfiction and nature field guides. When she is not at her desk, you can find Susan taking long walks in the hills surrounding her home or in her garden.

About Neon Squid

Neon Squid creates beautiful nonfiction books for inquisitive kids (and kids at heart). We believe the most amazing stories are real ones, so our books are for children who want to decipher ancient scrolls, orbit distant stars, and dive into the deepest oceans. Our books are a labor of love—written by experts, illustrated by the best artists around, and produced using the finest materials, including sustainably sourced paper. We hope that by reading them kids are encouraged to further explore the world around them.

About Melinda Sewak

Melinda Sewak (she/her/hers) is an Emmy-nominated story chaser, whose rich, lyrical, and welcoming voice brings life to an ever-growing cast of characters. Her facility with language is deeply immersive and has added dimension to 25+ audiobooks, ranging from children’s fiction to YA to romantic comedy to fantasy. Melinda has been fine-tuning her ability to convey the truth and the comedy in every story by drawing on her own diverse life experiences as a Black, queer creator – having grown up as a first-generation Haitian-American, graduated with a BA in Theater Studies from Yale University, toured as a jazz a cappella singer, worked as a firefighter and rescuer, conducted and published critical care and emergency medicine research, attended medical school, coached as a certified personal trainer, served as a Shakespeare teaching artist, worked in IT as a data and business analyst – and professionally acting on stage and screen. While varied, the through-line has always been a love for people and storytelling – and an always-present desire, evident in the rhythm and curiosity that exude from her voice, to discover, to share, and to connect with story and listener alike.


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Quotes

"A zoo employee herself with a viral following, Payne leads young visitors through a typical day at a generic zoological park... Readers may be surprised at the amount of training zoo animals receive; some are taught to station (or position) themselves a certain way to be X-rayed, to present paws for inspection, or to open their mouths at a hand gesture for dental exams... A wide-ranging zoological overview." —Kirkus Reviews