What I Learned At The 'Zoo

Sent from his military family's assignment in Germany back to learn his roots, 14-year-old Dale Beasley discovers in just one summer that his story encompasses a bizarre assortment of individuals, incidents, and experiences. Addiction, conspiracies, music, and religion -- all wrapped up in a humorous blend of summertime heat. Family. Relationships. Memories. Some tears but mostly deep belly laughs.

Coming of age during the turbulent 1970's, Dale Beasley for one short time only thought that he hailed from Texas. His father, the late Brigadier General Glenn D. Beasley, Sr., United States Army, knew and determined that his son would also know, instead, that the youngster's roots ran deep from the soil of the Mississippi Delta. What I Learned At The 'Zoo reveals the younger Beasley's fictionalized account of his 14th summer in Yazoo City — a summer that features an eccentric family, a plot to smuggle Cold War secrets from Mississippi to spies in East Germany, and the forging of a lasting bond between the boy and his Great Uncle Dallas Crabtree. Set during the height of the Cold War while his family live in Stuttgart, Germany, the story introduces a bizarre family steeped in Southern culture, colorful characters, and an espionage plot to smuggle Cold War Secrets from the Corps of Engineers in Vicksburg to spies probably working for East Germany and North Korea. Plot, scenes, and action evolve from well-crafted dialogue featuring stereotypically Southern language reimagined from a young teen's point of view.

Dale Beasley wrote What I Learned At The 'Zoo as his first novel and already has several more books in his mind and on his calendar. Retired as a lieutenant colonel after more than 30 years in the United States Army, Beasley served throughout Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. A graduate of The University of Southern Mississippi, The Academy of Health Sciences, and the United States Army Command and General Staff College, he is a member of the United States Army Medical Service Corps Regiment, an honorary member of HRH Queen Elizabeth's Royal Medical Corps, and a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion. The six-generation soldier and Iraqi war veteran is a trauma/emergency registered nurse. Beasley is a husband and father of four; both his sons serve in the US Armed Services.