National Zookeepers Week

National Zoo Keeper Week is observed annually during the third full week of July. This week is dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the dedication and hard work of zookeepers. Here's a list of books both fiction and nonfiction about zookeepers.

Updated June 29, 2025
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Fond du Lac Public Library
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The zookeeper's wife
Ackerman, Diane.
Paper Book
The New York Times bestseller soon to be a major motion picture starring Jessica Chastain. A true story in which the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo saved hundreds of people from Nazi hands. When Germany invaded Poland, Stuka bombers devastated Warsaw--and the city...
Father of lions : one man's remarkable quest to save the Mosul Zoo
Callaghan, Louise
Paper Book
Father of Lions is the powerful true story of the evacuation of the Mosul Zoo, featuring Abu Laith the zookeeper, Simba the lion cub, Lula the bear, and countless others, faithfully depicted by acclaimed, award-winning journalist Louise Callaghan in her trade publishing debut. ...
The zookeepers' war : an incredible true story from the Cold War
Mohnhaupt, Jan
Paper Book
The unbelievable true story of the Cold War's strangest proxy war, fought between the zoos on either side of the Berlin Wall. "The liveliness of Mohnhaupt's storytelling and the wonderful eccentricity of his subject matter make this book well worth a read." --Star...
Fierce kingdom : a novel
Phillips, Gin
Paper Book
One of the New York Times Book Review's Best Crime Novels of 2017 "Warning: you'll finish this in one sitting." --TheSkimm   "Expertly made thriller . . . clever and irresistible." --The New York Times An electrifying novel about the primal and...
West with giraffes
Rutledge, Lynda
Paper Book
"Few true friends have I known and two were giraffes . . ."
The elephant of Belfast : a novel
Walsh, S. Kirk
Paper Book
Inspired by true events, this vivid and moving story of a young woman zookeeper and the elephant she's compelled to protect through the German blitz of Belfast during WWll speaks to not only the tragedy of the times, but also to the ongoing sectarian tensions that still exist in Northern Ireland...
The loneliest polar bear : a true story of survival and peril on the edge of a warming world
Williams, Kale
Paper Book
"A moving story of abandonment, love, and survival against the odds."--Dr. Jane Goodall   The heartbreaking and ultimately hopeful story of an abandoned polar bear cub named Nora and the humans working tirelessly to save her and her species, whose uncertain future in the...

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