Zellaphant Books

09/06/2026

Sorry about the mess, it’s embarrassing but we had to fit a full apartment in a couple hundred square foot back room. This is what life was like a year ago when living inside the bookstore. I took this video at 2 AM after working both Outback Steakhouse in the daytime, then straight to my warehouse job for a night shift. If we didn’t move into the back of the bookstore, we would have been homeless.

We had no money, couldn’t tell anybody but people figured it out and kept it a secret for us, even sneaking us food sometimes. We had so much medical debt from me almost passing from EColi and many more things going on in the background that we can’t talk about yet.

All we had was each other and that’s all we needed. I could afford to get Katie food with an employee discount at Outback and some co workers sharing with me. Zella got her food, Katie got her insulin, and I couldn’t care less what happened with me.

Some local artists were angry with us (not actually) because even when we had an overdrawn checking account, we still refused to take a penny from what they made selling for free at the shop, we wanted them to be successful just as much, if not more then we wanted to be. Something as easy as a shower was difficult in this situation but we wouldn’t change it for anything. We’re glad we did it and we’d do it again for all of you.

I took the mattress on the floor and Katie took the couch since it was more comfy. It hurt not being able to lie next to each other and truth be told, it’s the same set up at our new apartment until we finish with the fallout from losing the store.

We love you, we miss you and we’d give anything to have you all back under our roof. This is the bitter truth about small business in today’s world. It’s not pretty and it’s not always fun.

Until next time ❤️

08/03/2026

Our baby having the time of her life all week 💕

07/22/2026

07/10/2026

Throwback to when we first realized the store was going to have to close down at the end of the lease because Zella got sick. We had already (allegedly) lived inside of it for quite a while.

Sneaking out at 1 AM to let her use the bathroom or vomit after surgery, sneaking in clothes after a late night at the laundromat to clean everything in between my 3 jobs, parking as close to the store as we could get away with so nobody noticed our car there overnight, every night.

Showering when possible in the bathroom at the store with the dirty sink water. Not having any other home lined up because we were so behind on everything and couldn’t afford the deposit. We skipped meals so Zella could get the best food possible before Farmer’s Dog stepped in and saved us.

At this point she was so uncomfortable that she couldn’t sleep without someone holding her, so although I had another 15 hour workday between Outback Steakhouse, the bookstore and a warehouse job, I was staying up all night to make sure she could sleep.

There’s no greater bond than a boy and his pup and I’d risk life and limb like I was willing to just for her to have another second. You probably can’t tell but I was sleep deprived, malnourished, checking account was negative, had no clean clothes and my whole body ached from work but I couldn’t have cared less because Zella was having her first decent night in who knows how long.

I was so happy because even though all of this was happening, she had gotten a new toy from a friend of the store, and she got tuckered out from playing with it and jumped up next to me. Katie was on a small mattress on the floor while I had the couch.

There’s always more behind the scenes than you know and this was the most challenging time of our lives. It sucked that the store was closing, sure, and yes there was another bookstore that made sure to pile on top of our problems when they found out what was going on, but all that mattered was that Zella was still here. This absolutely isn’t everything that happened, and there’s still plenty more we may never be able to talk about, but that’s our story for now.

As long as we had Zella, we still

07/08/2026

Throwback to this gem from the man who arguably created Rap, invented the iPhone, Jolly Ranchers and Space Travel. Soulja Boy once saw a child on the street, playing with a small doohickey and the child was visibly frustrated. Soulja Boy approached the child, handed him a $20 bill and a gold chain and told the child to never give up on his dreams. That child was Nikola Tesla. The discoverer of the 3 laws of Logic, Soulja dropped 2000’s bangers that brought more middle schoolers to the dance floor than guests to the Wolrd Cup. Thank you to Soulja Boy for the hits and for possibly inventing the calculator too.

07/07/2026

Pre-Orders are now ready using the link in our bio for the new shirt and thank you so much for such an awesome reaction to the idea! This shirt will help fundraise a panel style debate on hot button issues, right here in Des Moines. We’re aiming for October for a live show with a live audience, and it’s sure to be entertaining. Money raised at the show will go towards helping ease the homeless situation in Des Moines with better resources.

Thanks everyone and we added the option to break it up into payments as well, if needed. Love you 💕

07/06/2026

Please like, comment, repost or share to story if you’d like to help raise awareness 💕 any business that would be willing to carry this shirt on consignment is more than welcome to reach out!

Hey everyone! If you happen to be a billionaire, you’re definitely not going to enjoy this post and you’ll for sure hate the t-shirts even more. We are going to attempt to put on a live talk show in October to stream and raise money for the homeless situation after seeing how heartbroken Josh was at the Grown Up Book Fair. Most of you that were there know how he did his best to divide up the time to help with the book sale, but also try and talk with those in need and offer water or money, even though we were still broke after leaving the store.

This talk show idea is still being worked out, including date, venue, guests but we are going to put a new t shirt on sale to raise funds for it. It’s sure to be fiery and entertaining as we work out issues among each other to bring awareness to the homeless epidemic and raise money for resources. We’ll update you as it goes on sale on our website officially but you can of course DM us if interested beforehand!

Thank you and love you 💕

06/12/2026

Just a little update from us. Thank you for everything, there’s so much we could never pay back to you all. We were never the most popular bookstore but every beautiful soul that walked into the shop felt better than all the money in the world. When so many ignored our cries to help to save Zella, the group that did jump in to help was more than what we needed.

The worst part was people telling us “it’s just a dog” 🫢

So many of you didn’t hesitate for a second to see what we needed to do. Zella has done in her short 5 years than 1 million therapists could do in 500 lifetimes if you know Josh’s story. We do still get a lot of hate for being on the more open and honest side as a business but we want a bond that goes deeper than a simple business transaction.

Things genuinely are finally looking up again and without you, we’d still be stuck in hell pretty much. Theres our update and we love you all. DMs are always open and we miss you again already 💕

06/06/2026

Thank you so much for the for having us again for the Grown Up Book Fair! We missed everyone and today was such a great day to see and talk to everyone again! 💕

06/05/2026

Josh wanted to make a video to tell you all how much he misses you since we had to close the store to better care for Zella, and here’s our chance to see you again. We’ll be at the Grown Up Book Fair at from 12-4 PM for a chance to be a part of the community again.

All money made tomorrow will go to Zella’s fund and it could be a big boost, but we really also just want to see you guys again. We know so many of you came to the store just to see Josh and this is your chance to reconnect and he wants to hear how you’ve been doing since we closed!

He’s so excited and has a big hug for all of you ❤️

See you tomorrow!