Tom Seeman presents "Animals I Want To See" with Rita Zoey Chin

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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 fourteen 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.

On Bronson Street, in the projects of Toledo, Ohio, in a crowded house occupied by a family of fourteen, 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Seeman grew up in a family of fourteen on welfare and food stamps in the projects of Toledo, Ohio, and went on to own and lead several businesses. He earned his B.A. in Economics from Yale, where he rowed on the crew team and graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, before going on to earn his Juris Doctor at Harvard Law. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston and on the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. He funded a scholarship that actively seeks disadvantaged students to attend St. Francis de Sales High School in Toledo—the same school that generously gave him a scholarship and that he credits for helping him fulfill his dream of attending a top college. He has worked across the globe, lived in five countries, and traveled to over one hundred. He makes his home in Massachusetts with his wife, four children, three dogs, and a cat.

ABOUT THE INTERLOCUTOR

Rita Zoey Chin is the author of the widely praised memoir, Let the Tornado Come. Hailed by The Huffington Post as a “euphoric ode to the human spirit” and by Oprah.com as a “powerful story to pass onto a friend,” Let the Tornado Come was named a Boston Globe “Summer Reads” pick, an ElleReaders Prize pick, and one of Flavorwire’s “10 Nonfiction Books That Will Make You Smarter.”

Called “an imaginitive debut” by the New York Times and “a work of literary excellence” by the Southern Literary Review, Zoey’s first novel, The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern, was published in October 2022 by Melville House. Among many honors, it was longlisted for the Cabell First Novelist Award, listed as a Washington Independent Review of Books “Favorite Book of 2022,” and chosen by Honest Dog Books as their January 2023 “Pick of the Month” in fiction.

Zoey holds an MFA from the University of Maryland, has taught at Towson University, and teaches at Grub Street in Boston, as well as at retreats and conferences near and far. Some of her other writing can be found in Guernica, Tin House, Blackbird Review, NY Arts Magazine, Marie Claire, Flash Fiction America (W.W. Norton & Company), Orion, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, and The Boston Globe.

Zoey is devoted to kindness to all creatures, and she spends as much time as possible in nature with her dogs and horse—her greatest teachers. If she’s not out in the elements, you might find her working with them while wielding a torch in her metalsmithing studio, making amulets with silver and stones. A perpetual seeker of magic, she is currently working on her wingless flying skills. She has a long way to go.

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