The Zee Files

Featured on Reading Middle Grade’s 100 Middle Grade Books to Read in 2022

“An enviable hero and appealing wish fulfillment that’s spiced with teen-friendship drama.” –Kirkus Reviews

“Mackenzie ‘Zee’ Blue Carmichael has just been uprooted from California to London with her family and then sent off to boarding school alone and for the first time. This thirteen year old must try to juggle long-distance friendships (the only kind she has at first) with her new home, new boarding school, new friends, and her musical talents… 4⁄5 stars.”–Youth Services Book Review

“In this character-driven series starter spun off from the Mackenzie Blue series, California girl Mackenzie ‘Zee’ Blue Carmichael and her family are moving to London, and red-haired, olive-skinned Zee is headed to year nine at an English boarding school. Tina Wells’s slice-of-life plotting, told in text message exchanges and a sometimes formal voice, focuses on character introductions, holding some arcs’ wrap-ups for the next installment.”–Publishers Weekly

“Tina Wells has done a nice job giving the characters personalities that make them unique and intriguing. This makes it good to know that another story in Zee’s life is on the way. The story is well-crafted, interesting, and will leave readers wanting more.”–YA Books Central

“Adding humor, life’s rollercoaster, and a good amount of heart, this is a cute beginning to what promises to be a soon loved series. Zee is a lively girl… Her energy radiates from every page, but she’s by no means overly bubbly or silly. Her decisions are thought out, she tries not to break any rules, and she’s always thinking of others. She’s the kind of girl everyone like and gets along with. Even the situations she faces, while being in London and, therefore, a bit more ‘exotic’, are the type many middle graders will be able to relate to and understand.”–Bookworm for Kids

“Tina Wells’s The Zee Files is a story about Mackenzie Blue, who relocates to the UK and thereby experiences a new culture, makes new friends, and faces the realities of long-distance friendships. Brimming with energy and charm, and accompanied by wonderful illustrations by Veronica Miller Jamison, this book will warm the hearts of young readers.”–IndieReader

Tina Wells is a business strategist, advisor, author, and the founder of RLVNT Media, a multimedia content venture serving entrepreneurs, tweens and culturists with authentic representation. Tina has been recognized by Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, Essence’s 40 Under 40, and more. For over two decades she led Buzz Marketing Group, an agency she founded at age 16 with clients like Dell, The Oprah Winfrey Network, Kroger, Apple, P+G, Johnson & Johnson, and American Eagle that Tina connected with her network of 30,000 buzzSpotters® and 7,000 “momSpotters”, all influential millennials and passionate end-consumers. Tina is also the author of seven books, including the best-selling tween fiction series Mackenzie Blue, its 2020 spinoff series, The Zee Files, and the marketing handbook, Chasing Youth Culture and Getting It Right. Tina’s board positions have included THINX, the United Nations Foundation’s Global Entrepreneurs Council, The Franklin Institute and Young Entrepreneur’s Council. She has also served as the Academic Director for Wharton’s Leadership in the Business World Program at the University of Pennsylvania and is a member of the 2017 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

Veronica Miller Jamison is an alumna of Howard University (BA, Journalism) and spent nearly a decade in broadcast news as a producer for NPR and the AP before she earned her MS in Fashion Design from Drexel University and embarked on a fashion and design career. She teaches fashion illustration at Made Institute, fashion industry at Drexel, and has been a guest lecturer at The University of the Arts. Veronica’s clients include Essence Magazine, SheaMoisture, Bloomingdale’s, and Hallmark. Her debut picture book A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon, received a starred review from Kirkus. Veronica lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.