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.