Zebra Forest by Adina Rishe Gewirtz is an enthralling tale about the Snow children Annie and Rew.  They live with Gran and the only thing either of them know about their parents is from what Gran has told them.  Gran, whose husband died years before lives in a constant state of depression and bad moods. Annie, while writing an essay about what she wants to do over the summer, states an impossible wish she had kept secret for years; she wants to meet her dead father.  Chaos breaks loose shortly after her summer starts when 40 inmates from a local prison escape, one of which keeps Gran and the children hostage for over two months. Only one small problem, their captor is Andrew Snow, their father.