%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed and have been commented out. Do not uncomment without providing sufficient context.

[[quoteright:312:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4aa8b6432958d771bd5a7260d6b8dd20.jpg]]

->What would you do if you had your own zoo?\\
Would you bounce on a bear?\\
Let a giraffe brush your hair?\\
Have an elephant pick out your underwear?

''Willa's Wild Life'' is a Canadian/French animated television series from Creator/{{Nelvana}} and Futurikon produced in association with the Canadian network Creator/{{YTV}} and and the French network Télétoon (no relation to [[Creator/{{Teletoon}} YTV's at-the-time rival]]). The show is created by American children's author Dan Yaccarino (who also created ''WesternAnimation/{{Oswald}}'') and loosely based on a book he wrote called ''An Octopus Followed Me Home''.

The series follows a 9-year-old girl named Willa (voiced by Canadian actress Creator/JordanTodosey of ''Series/LifeWithDerek'' and ''Series/{{Degrassi|TheNextGeneration}}'' fame) who has some very unusual pets. She has, so far, acquired a giraffe, two elephants, an alligator, a walrus, a bear, two seals, a camel, three penguins, and lots and lots of rabbits. Willa often finds herself in hilarious situations, and these colorful creatures offer Willa advice and wisdom from each of their respective points of view.

The series celebrates the concept of multiple intelligences that embraces the notion that every one of us contains a host of different modes and types of intelligence, including musical, spatial and logical. The show's motto is, "It's not how smart you are; it's how you are smart."

The show ran for a single season of 26 episodes from 2008 to 2009. It also aired on Creator/{{Qubo}} in the United States. For the Qubo airings, special segments were added at the end of episodes where Willa will narrate the life lessons of what to do, what not to do, and how important the subject is, relating it to what happened in the episode.
----
!!''Willa's Wild Life'' provides examples of:

* AccidentalMisnaming: Inky, Blinky and Bob keep referring to Willa as "Gladys". Additionally, Sara, Kara and Lara constantly misremember Willa's name as other names starting with "W" like "Willow" and "Wilma".
* AdaptedOut: Surprisingly, the octopus who forms the main subject of ''An Octopus Followed Me Home'', the very book the show was adapted from, is completely absent from Willa's menagerie in the show.
* AdaptationDyeJob: Willa had red hair in ''An Octopus Followed Me Home''. Additionally, the more technicolor animals in her menagerie have more normal colors in the original book.
* AdaptationExpansion: While Willa may not have an octopus like she did in ''An Octopus Followed Me Home'', she still has several animals who weren't present in the original book, namely a kangaroo, a camel, and a walrus. The other animals, she has in both in show and the original book.
* AfraidOfDoctors: In "Who's Afraid Of the Big Bad Vet?" Willa is shown to not like going to the doctor very much, and tries to avoid it by hiding from her dad. Then she finds out Tiny is afraid of going to the vet as well. They decide to go together so they can get over it.
* AllLovingHero: Willa happens to be extremely good-natured and is friendly to absolutely everyone.
* AmazingTechnicolorWildlife: Willa's rabbits come in a rainbow of bright colors. Also, Lou, one of the elephants, is yellow.
* AnimalTalk: All of the animals can understand each other and Willa, but as soon as another human enters the picture, they usually stay silent.
* BabysittingEpisode: The episode "Baby It's You" is about Willa having to watch over her neighbor's nephew, and she runs into trouble when the baby starts crying and she can't figure out what he wants.
* BearyFriendly: Bert the bear is a big soft-hearted sleepyhead.
* ButtMonkey: Willa's Dad, of course. The animals tend to cause trouble for him.
* CampingEpisode: "Willa in the Wilderness". Willa and Dooley decide to go camping in Willa's backyard to prove that they can handle doing it alone. They get rained out and instead prove that they really can't.
* CatchPhrase:
** Whenever Willa is facing something impossible is: "When there's a Willa, there's a way." She also say "I know, I know," "Oops," and "Dad, I need a hug".
** [[NoInsideVoice ''WILLAAAAA!!'']] from her dad whenever her animal friends cause trouble. He also say "Willa!" and "No!"
* ClipShow: "Willa's Wonderful Life" is the standard "reminiscing on old adventures" variety.
* DidntThinkThisThrough: In “Willa's Wild News”, considering the previous episodes, Willa could’ve shown the viewers her animals’ actual talents that they already have, instead of being too mundane with or exaggerating on the animals’ capabilities. This plan on the school's TV station would’ve excited the students while maintaining honesty.
* ExpositoryThemeTune
--> ''What would you do''
--> ''If you had your own zoo?''
--> ''Would you bounce on a bear?''
--> ''Let a giraffe brush your hair?''
--> ''Have an elephant pick out your underwear?''
--> ''Willa''
--> ''Willa''
--> ''Will your wildlife stay and play awhile?''
--> ''Cause it's so much fun playing Willa-style''
--> ''Willa''
--> ''Willa''
--> ''Willa's Wild Life!''
--> ''Willa: (speaking) Willa's Wild Life!''
* FriendToAllLivingThings: Willa. Her tendency to bring home every animal she found and keep it as a pet was how she ended up with her collection of companions.
* GenialGiraffe: Jenny the giraffe is the wise and kind TeamMom of the animals.
* GirlPosse: Sara, Kara and Lara. Sara is usually the one to make fun of Willa, with the other two "parroting" her. One episode even [[LampshadeHanging acknowledged this]] by having Kara and Lara ditch Sara for being too bossy and deciding to hang out with Willa instead.
* GreenGators: Gus is a dark green alligator.
* GuinnessEpisode: The main plot of "Willa's Wonderful Life" is Willa trying to break a world record.
* HeightAngst: Both forms are used in the episode "Growing Pains". Willa spends the whole episode trying to make herself taller so she'll be able to ride a roller coaster. At the same time, her friend Evelyn spends the episode trying to get shorter so she'll stop outgrowing all her clothes.
* InsomniaEpisode: "Go To Sleep, Bert!" has the normally narcoleptic Bert unable to sleep, and distrupting everyone else while they're trying to sleep. Everyone spends the episode trying to get him back to sleep.
* IronicName: One of Willa's elephants is named Tiny.
%%* JerkAss: Gus is rude and obnoxious from time to time...
%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Gus is this sometimes as well.
* KISSINGInATree: Sara, Kara and Lara tease Willa and Dooley with this rhyme in one episode.
* LoopholeAbuse: In "Willa's Top Dogs", Willa manages to get her seals to compete in the dog show because there was no rule that said the contestants had to be dogs.
* MaliciousMisnaming: Sara, Kara and Lara ''never'' call Willa by her actual name; they always use some other name that starts with a W, and Willa almost always tries to correct them, to no avail.
* MissingMom: For whatever reason, Willa's mother is never even mentioned.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Willa did not have a name in the original book, ''An Octopus Followed Me Home''.
* NeverSmileAtACrocodile: Gus the alligator. He's grouchy and rude, and frequently attempts to eat the bunnies. However, he does have a soft side, especially for Willa.
* NewJobEpisode: In "Willa's Wild Pony Tale, Willa gets several new jobs to get money to buy a scrunchie.
* NoNameGiven: Willa's dad is always just referred to as "[Willa's] Dad". He and Willa also have no last name.
* OddNameOut: The penguins are named Inky, Blinky and Bob.
* OpenMindedParent: Willa's dad seems to be perfectly okay with his daughter keeping zoo animals around the house.
* PaleFemalesDarkMales: The seal couple Steve and Edie. While Steve is a dark bluish-gray, Edie is a lighter bluish-gray. [[FlowersOfFemininity Edie also wears a flower on the side of her head.]]
* PerformanceAnxiety: Willa gets hit with stage fright while rehearsing for a school play.
* PictureDay: In "Bad Hare Day", Willa gets a cowlick and tries to get rid of it before her yearbook pictures. After she has [=KoKo=] try to trim it off (which just makes it worse), she resorts to wearing a rabbit on her head.
* PleaseDontLeaveMe: Several episodes involve Willa trying to go somewhere, while the animals try to get her to stay so they don't have to be alone. This was also reversed in one episode, with Willa thinking the animals were being sent away, and she tries to prevent that from happening.
* SickEpisode: "Nurse Willa." Willa planned to go hang out with her dad all day, only to find out he's sick. Willa decides to take care of him until he feels better, [[HilarityEnsues and so do the animals.]]
* SleepyHead: Bert the bear spends most of his screen time asleep.
* TeamMom: Jenny the giraffe serves as this to Willa and the other animals.
* TwoLinesNoWaiting: Several episodes have a small subplot (usually involving some of the animals) to go along with the main plot.
* TwoTeacherSchool: The vice principal, Mr. Tremble, is the only faculty member shown at the school.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: In "The Girl Who Cried Ouch", Sara pretends to have been injured by Tiny so that she can get Willa to do everything for her.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Tiny and Lou are the youngest ones of the group, and since they are elephants, they're also the biggest.
----