Editorial Content for Animals I Want to See: A Memoir of Growing Up in the Projects and Defying the Odds
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Businessman and world traveler Tom Seeman has created a self-portrait that will enthrall and impress. ANIMALS I WANT TO SEE chronicles his rise from searing, depressing poverty to notable success, through determination, faith and the development of inner strength.
This stirring memoir opens when Tom’s family, which would swell to 12 children, is able to leave their tiny, crowded quarters in the slums of Toledo, Ohio. Tom envisions a mansion, and though the new house is as run-down as the old one and is in a comparably shoddy Toledo neighborhood, it is a blessing. The place is big, so no longer would he have to bump elbows with his siblings and sleep in a crowded bed. Tom is able to makes friends with Black children who accept him as they learn his true, open-minded nature. His father is cynical and often inebriated, so the beacon of hope in his early life is his mother, to whom this book is dedicated.
"Tom Seeman’s story will amaze readers, as it is rare for anyone raised in such deprivation to rise far above those circumstances."
Virginia Seeman is an artist without time or funds to pursue her talents. But she sees the positives in every situation and has arranged to have Tom attend a private, church-based school. In fourth grade, asked to write about his parents, he cites his mother as always being there for him and his father as “an example of what I don’t want to be.” For someone so young, it is a striking moment of truth that opens new inner paths in his zeal for self-improvement.
Tom’s first pet is a snake, which bites him, and other companions include “a yellow-spotted salamander, a bullfrog, and a groundhog” --- whatever is available in his shabby surroundings. In school and in church, he bonds respectfully with various priests, while his profound questioning of religious truths sometimes jars and sometimes deepens those relationships. By the time he nears high school graduation, his dream is to go to an Ivy League college. He scores a perfect 800 on his LSAT and is accepted to Yale University.
Tom Seeman’s story will amaze readers, as it is rare for anyone raised in such deprivation to rise far above those circumstances. In an opening segment, he recalls a time when he was 13 years old. He and some pals, both white and Black, are hurling Halloween pumpkins off a bridge onto the traffic below. His decision to abandon this dangerous prank and run home reflects the depth of his innate wish to “live a purposeful life.” His memories are recorded with a rational serving of pride, humor and frank self-examination.
ANIMALS I WANT TO SEE offers a fresh take on the American dream and concludes with some encounters with rare animals in his travels abroad and a brief summation of his current life. This includes “helping as many children as possible” by creating scholarship programs for “underserved kids” in Toledo --- the kind of young people he understands so well through vivid personal experience.
Teaser
On Bronson Street, in the projects of Toledo, Ohio, in a crowded house occupied by a family of 14, Tom Seeman starts a very important list. Just as the trash-strewn field in his backyard is home to a treasure trove of wild animals, Tom’s list, “Animals I Want To See One Day,” is home to dreams of adventure in places far away from the downtrodden neighborhood where he lives. But for all its hardship and crime, Bronson Street is also something of a mythical street, populated by unforgettable people who share food, protect each other, and give surprising gifts of beauty and merriment, proving that the bonds of community and friendship (often across racial and social lines) can bridge any divide and transcend what many of us are taught to believe about each other.
Promo
On Bronson Street, in the projects of Toledo, Ohio, in a crowded house occupied by a family of 14, Tom Seeman starts a very important list. Just as the trash-strewn field in his backyard is home to a treasure trove of wild animals, Tom’s list, “Animals I Want To See One Day,” is home to dreams of adventure in places far away from the downtrodden neighborhood where he lives. But for all its hardship and crime, Bronson Street is also something of a mythical street, populated by unforgettable people who share food, protect each other, and give surprising gifts of beauty and merriment, proving that the bonds of community and friendship (often across racial and social lines) can bridge any divide and transcend what many of us are taught to believe about each other.
About the Book
A lyrical coming-of-age story set in the projects of Toledo, Ohio, ANIMALS I WANT TO SEE explores themes of identity, ambition, religion and friendship --- often across racial and social lines --- as it spotlights a family of 14 and tracks a boy’s journey from a child janitor with big dreams to a teenage petty criminal to a student at Yale and Harvard.
“A terrific and moving memoir about dreaming big and making great things happen.”
— President Bill Clinton
“Tom Seeman has penned an extraordinarily engaging book about his struggles as a youngster, the many folks who ‘packed his parachute,’ his spiritual journey culminating in finding deep meaning, and the joy he feels in helping others. Read it and be inspired.”
— Deepak Chopra
On Bronson Street, in the projects of Toledo, Ohio, in a crowded house occupied by a family of 14, Tom Seeman starts a very important list. Just as the trash-strewn field in his backyard is home to a treasure trove of wild animals, Tom’s list, “Animals I Want To See One Day,” is home to dreams of adventure in places far away from the downtrodden neighborhood where he lives. But for all its hardship and crime, Bronson Street is also something of a mythical street, populated by unforgettable people who share food, protect each other, and give surprising gifts of beauty and merriment, proving that the bonds of community and friendship (often across racial and social lines) can bridge any divide and transcend what many of us are taught to believe about each other.
A luminous coming-of-age memoir that shimmers with countless marvels, ANIMALS I WANT TO SEE tracks Tom Seeman’s journey from a child janitor with big ambitions to a teenage petty criminal to a student at Yale and Harvard. At once a meditation on finding wonder in unlikely places, an ode to a heroic mother who makes the seemingly impossible possible, and an exploration of what it means to create our own identities, this is a heartwarming, thought-provoking, ultimately uplifting book for all readers.
Audiobook available, read by Brian Hutchison
