An inspirational memoir of a man's rich life experiences without sight, but with an enormous sense of wonder in the world around him. Bestselling author Tom Sullivan explores life without sight and finds it rich and rewarding. In fact, he’s gleaned a number of gifts from his “affliction,” including: -I’ve never assessed my relationship with people according to the limits of labels or assumption. -I’ve enjoyed a world of senses available to all of us but almost never explored by the majority of those with sight. -I’ve made challenge my road to limitless opportunity. -I’ve cultivated a clear sense of my own purpose. -I’ve learned to be passionate, celebrating my own uniqueness through the expression of that passion. -I’ve found a powerful faith that has become my foundation for living. -I’ve learned to love unconditionally through the interdependent relationship I share with my wife, Patty, and my children. Through insightful stories and emotive writing, Tom describes a life of fullness, not lack, as he’s made blindness a positive. For Tom Sullivan—author, actor, athlete, singer, entertainer, and producer—a life with blindness has been a life with very few true limits. In this elegant exploration of the senses, he considers the different challenges he’s faced and explains the wonder he carries because, not in spite, of his blindness. *** ...I realize that my way of looking at the world is unique and, yes, special. I’m sure that in God’s essential plan I was chosen to be blind, and after many years of struggle I’ve come to terms with that remarkable truth. Along my journey I have learned much that I hope to pass on to you, but for now here’s what I want you to understand: blindness is the best thing that has ever happened to Tom Sullivan. Would I like to be able to see? Certainly; to see the beauty of nature in all of its forms, the faces of the people I love, and the myriad colors of a sunset. I’d love to play center field for the Red Sox or catch a touchdown pass from Tom Brady and the Patriots. But I have not only become content with my lot, I now celebrate my own uniqueness with closed eyes but a completely open soul. The joy in writing this book is in my knowing that even though I quite likely will never see as you do, I might just be able to change your perceptions and broaden the possibilities for your own appreciation for the grace God has provided us with and the life we’re so blessed to live. So, take a look—as I see it—inside out, rather than outside in. —Tom Sullivan, from the Prologue
Brian O'Connor is a successful lawyer, loving husband, and devoted father. He also happens to be blind. Driven his entire life to be independent, Brian has achieved much, but he has been so busy proving his triumph over blindness that he hasn't stopped to consider how his carefully crafted life can all come crashing down in an instant. When his young son is diagnosed with cancer, the long ensuing battle brings Brian to his knees as he comes to terms with his own limitations and his need for faith.
Praise for Seeing Lessons "Tom Sullivan's inspiring story and the life lessons that he shares can help you live your own life with more passion, clarity, and meaning. I know you will find Seeing Lessons to be a great read." -Jack Nicklaus "What makes this book stimulating is the feeling that the author is speaking with you, not at you. Soon you find yourself looking at commonplace things in a slightly different light. Before long you are relating his stories to your own stories-and seeing them with a new perspective and rekindled enthusiasm. Tom Sullivan's passion is contagious." -Betty White "With Seeing Lessons, Tom Sullivan is truly a gift that keeps on giving as he shares the joys, passions, frustrations, and even the pain of a life lived to the fullest-undaunted by challenges few of us can even imagine. I want my children to read this book, absorb its message, and pass it along to their children." -former Senator Bill Brock "Seeing Lessons is an inspired book offering simple steps to improving your life and being the best person you can be. This is one book that will forever change the way you think about life and living." -Joseph J. Luciani, Ph.D. author of Self-Coaching "In Seeing Lessons, Tom Sullivan not only teaches me things about myself and about life I didn't know, but he offers possibilities for corporations to reach for the higher ground in the way they do business." -Peter Coors Chairman, Coors Brewing Company "This book not only teaches life lessons that are important to all of us but would prompt all of my players to be better athletes-and more important, better people." -Mike Shanahan Coach, Denver Broncos "In this inspiring book, Tom Sullivan opens his heart and mind to all that blesses and surrounds him. You can do it too. Read this book." -Rosalene Glickman, Ph.D. author of Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self
This stunning picture book will have young readers wondering about outer space and life on other planets while imparting a surprising and profound message of empathy. From the author/illustrator of Blue vs. Yellow and I Used to Be a Fish. Do you ever look up at the night sky and wonder if there is anybody else out there? Are there evil robots or cool aliens? Do they fly in UFOs or live in futuristic cities? Or maybe . . . they are just like us. Out There is a wonder-filled, surprising journey of imagination and empathy, a book that will inspire readers of all ages to reflect on how much we all have in common, despite our differences.
In this inspiring memoir, the actor and singer remembers the incredible summer he refused to let blindness keep him from living like other children. In the summer of 1959, eleven-year-old Tom Sullivan was desperate to experience life the way other little boys did. Blind since infancy, he’d learned much at the venerable Perkins School for the Blind. But he was beginning to feel confined by its rules and sheltered environment. Encouraged by his saloon owner father, he spent that summer undertaking adventurous challenges of all kinds—from pitching in a Little League game to boxing the neighborhood bully. In this hair-raising and heartwarming memoir, Tom vividly recounts a summer in which he boldly attempted—and often achieved—the impossible.
In Adventures in Darkness, Tom Sullivan takes readers through the adventures of his monumental eleventh year. Blind since birth, Tom lived in a challenging world of isolation and special treatment. But he was driven to break out and live as sighted people do. This book is a hair-raising, heart-warming experience that culminates in Tom's reliance upon God to realize his dreams of a "normal" life.
In Special Parent, Special Child, Tom Sullivan takes us inside the lives of parents who struggle daily to make a difference in the lives of their children with disabilities. It is a journey of parental hopes and dreams. Of heroism and disappointment. Of success and failure. Of unending trials and unpredictable rewards. From more than two hundred interviews, Sullivan chose six families who dramatically express the wide range of concerns confronting parents of children with disabilities. The parents speak openly and intimately about complex emotions, about working with and fighting against the medical, educational, and social service systems, developing ongoing relationships with professionals, handling the inevitable family repercussions, and maintaining strength and hope throughout as they seek the best life possible for their children. The spectrum of disability in this book - cerebral palsy, blindness, life-threatening illness, deafness, learning disability, and Down syndrome - brings to light an array of issues affecting parents. Even though each family's experience is unique, Special Parent, Special Child shows that there are common bonds and a common ground shared among these parents. They teach that when fate puts us in difficult situations, remarkable depths of courage and devotion arise in response. Their stories are a testimony to the quality and commitment of families throughout this country who are raising children with disabilities. The wisdom these parents share through the author, who is blind, will help all special parents to fulfill their challenging role.
An ALA Top Ten Best Graphic Novel for Children The second book in this graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases is a gripping account of an escape from Alcatraz, the infamous island prison. CASE NO. 002: THE ROCK June 12, 1962 SAN FRANCISCO BAY, CALIFORNIA 7:18 A.M. A corrections officer at Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary tries to awaken inmate AZ-1441, Frank Morris. But when he shakes the unresponsive man, his head rolls off the pillow and crashes to the floor! Soon the guards realize that Morris and two other inmates, brothers John and Clarence Anglin, had done the seemingly impossible: escaped from the notorious island prison. This is the incredible true story of the daring and inventive escape and a decades-long manhunt in a case that remains unsolved to this day. Comics panels, reproductions of documents from real FBI files, and photos from the investigation combine for a thrilling read for sleuths of all ages. This entry in the Unsolved Case Files series is just as compelling as the first book, Unsolved Case Files: Escape at 10,000 Feet, which Kirkus praised as "compulsively readable.
In his day, perhaps no one in baseball was better known than Irish-born Timothy Paul "Ted" Sullivan. For 50 years, America's sportswriters sang his praises, genuflected to his genius and bought his blarney by the barrel. Damon Runyon dubbed him "The Celebrated Carpetbagger of Baseball." Cunning, fast-talking, witty and sober, Sullivan was the game's first player agent, a groundbreaking scout who pulled future Hall of Famers from the bushes, an author, a playwright and a baseball evangelist who promoted the game across five continents. He coined the term "fan" and was among the first to suggest the designated hitter--because pitchers were "a lot of whippoorwill swingers." But he was also a convert to the Jim Crow attitudes of his day--black ballplayers were unimaginable to him. Unearthing thousands of contemporaneous newspaper accounts, this first exhaustive biography of "Hustlin'" Ted Sullivan recounts the life and career of one of the greatest hucksters in the history of the game.
The third book in this graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases details the Isabella Stewart Gardner heist—the largest, and one of the most famous, art thefts in the world. CASE NO. 003: THE GARDNER MARCH 18, 1990 BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS 1:24 a.m. Two thieves posing as Boston Police officers gain entry to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Once inside, they steal thirteen pieces of art, including several rare Rembrandts. Eighty-one minutes later, these men walk off with $500 million worth of art. This heist is the single largest private property theft in the United States—and despite decades of investigation and dozens of false leads, the case remains unsolved to this day. Don’t miss the first two gripping installments in this thrilling series, Unsolved Case Files: Escape at 10,000 Feet and Unsolved Case Files: Jailbreak at Alcatraz.
An ALA Top Ten Best Graphic Novel for Children A thrilling new graphic nonfiction series about real FBI cases, launching with a gripping, minute-by-minute account of the only unsolved airplane hijacking in the U.S. CASE NO. 001: NORJAK NOVEMBER 24, 1971 PORTLAND, OREGON 2:00 P.M. A man in his mid-forties, wearing a suit and overcoat, buys a ticket for Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 bound for Seattle. 3:07 P.M. The man presents his demands: $200,000 in cash and four parachutes. If the demands are not met, he threatens to detonate the explosive device in his briefcase. So begins the astonishing true story of the man known as D.B. Cooper, and the only unsolved airplane hijacking case in the United States. Comic panels, reproductions of documents from real FBI files, and photos from the investigation combine for a thrilling read for sleuths of all ages. What better way to draw readers into nonfiction than through an exciting graphic novel? This series will appeal to readers of series such as Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales. Fans of history and whodunits, CSI-club kids, and graphic novel enthusiasts alike will be pulled in by the suspenseful, complex, and kid-appropriate cases in this series. Sidebars provide fun facts about pre-2001 air travel, serial numbers on currency, airplane design, and more. Backmatter showcases period photos and primary source material in FBI archives.
Ken Ludwig. Music by Sir Arthur Sullivan. Lyrics by William S. Gilbert. Characters: 8 male, 4 female Various interior scenes, or one unit set. This clever show takes place at the Savoy Theatre in 1890. Gilbert and Sullivan, who have been feuding for years, are forced to work together one more time: Queen Victoria commands a performance of their most popular songs. Part docu drama, part period comedy, and part Gilbertt and Sullivan's Greatest Hits, this is a delightful revue from the author of Lend Me a Tenor, Leading Ladies, and Moon Over Buffalo. A charming show.-Boston Globe A warm, and affectionate behind the scenes look at this tempestuous, hilarious relationship.-Middlesex News
Sullivan, known to many as an actor, singer, entertainer, author, and producer, takes readers through the adventures of his monumental eleventh year. Blind since birth, Tom lived in a challenging world of isolation and special treatment, but he was driven to break out and live as sighted people do. This book is a hair-raising, heart-warming experience that culminates in Tom's reliance upon God to realize his dreams of a "normal" life.--From publisher description.
The Tale of Mad Wood on the 17th Floor While sitting at my secretarial station in the hall late one afternoon, I heard a roar from the overgrown office, Mad Wood's office. Tendrils of creeper vines continued their inexorable growth out the door, and, more impressively, several leather-bound records of old transactions flew from the office, coming within lamentable inches of braining McCartney as he sauntered provocatively past. Wood, Mad Wood, came roaring after them. "GEROFMILAM!" bellowed the nearly naked figure. He had lost his grasp of language years ago. He was clad, as per his custom, only in the tattered remnants of a pair of khakis, now ripped away up to the knees, and the overflow of his tangled blond beard, which came down to his waist. McCartney fled. I watched as Wood, trembling still with rage, went to retrieve the volumes. Three had rebounded off the far wall and landed on the outside of the corridor, the side nearest Wood's office. These he gathered carefully, gently, plucking them from the rose bush in which they'd landed. A fourth, however, lay on the other side of the corridor. Wood edged his way to the center of the corridor, which was marked by a line of neon tape. Wood bent at the very edge of the tape, reaching for the book. It was inches past his outstretched fingers. He strained. He stretched. His weathered face reddened with exertion and concentration. He sank to one knee so he could reach further. His fingers inched closer.... "What's this? Litter in the halls, eh? Well, we can't have that. It's nasty, Wood, nasty." Portly, pink-faced Jenkins, dapper in a dark suit, kicked the book out of his reach with one wingtip. "Can you believe the slovenliness of some of our staff, Wood? It will have to go in the trash, I'm afraid." Jenkins beamed as he held the book up, still out of reach of the snarling Wood. "What is it, anyway? Oh, I see... The closing set for a billion-dollar public financing. I would have thought that would have had real sentimental value for someone. Still, anything left in the hall is trash. It's a pity, a real pity." Wood snarled and gnashed his teeth as Jenkins set the volume carefully in a steel trashcan on the inside part of the corridor. "If by chance I've thrown away something someone values," Jenkins continued, expounding to the world in general, "well, they've only to retrieve it from the trash before the girl comes by to empty it. Much neater, eh? Cleanliness, you'll find, Wood, is next to godliness." Pulling a pen from his pocket and ripping a sheet of paper from a pad on a nearby desk, he wrote out a note for the janitor, speaking aloud each letter as he wrote it. "B-A-S-U-R-A." Basura, the Spanish word for trash. Bellowing, Wood strained to reach the volume as he had before, approaching but not passing the line in the middle of the corridor. Now, however, the book was out of his reach by several feet. After several minutes of struggle and contortion he realized its futility. He collapsed back into his rose bush and wept. As he heard the wheels of the Albanian janitor's cart around the corner his weeping became desperate moans. Though I am by long-standing habit an observer rather than a participant in the lives of these lawyers, Wood's moans touched me. I fingered the thick envelope taped to the underside of my desk. The curious writing on it bore words I knew by heart: "In exchange for a kindness long owed and not yet paid." I resolved to act.
Set in the mid nineteen eighties, this story tells of a young man, Richie Butler, a streetwise, anti-establishment character, who unknowingly becomes a witness to a serious crime. He finds himself targeted by a gang of major criminals who believe he is a danger to them and has to be eliminated. After escaping their clutches more than once in his home town, he goes on the run, but arms himself in the process. As his pursuers get closer, he is both shocked and emboldened by events, and turns pursuer himself. With the police and the more senior gang-members now trying to stop the ever-more frantic chase, a dramatic climax is reached, by which time the line between the hunter and the hunted almost disappears.
When Teddy Sergeant met Sid, he had no idea how Sid's "special training" would affect his career as a poker player or private investigator. Preparing for and competing in the World Series of Poker is a major undertaking. Doing so while investigating a murder might be impossible for a lesser man. The arrest of his best friend Phil D'Angelo causes Teddy to cut short the training arranged by Sid. It also allows Teddy to meet Fiona Rourke, a beautiful woman but reluctant defense attorney. The one-time playboy is smitten by the lovely Fiona and begins a quest to win her heart, solve the case and win poker bracelets. His past nemesis Arturo Morales, serving time in Ely Prison, orchestrates a different scenario. Friend and co-conspirator Detective Gil Roberts helps Teddy in his attempt to prove Phil D'Angelo innocent of all charges. Politics and personal ambition provide obstacles to finding the truth. The investigation becomes much more than a simple manslaughter case as it escalates into an international story involving jurisdictions and various law enforcement agencies. Teddy and Fiona continue to develop a relationship as our hero sets his sights on winning the World Series of Poker. With twists and turns that keep appearing, this story of romance, mystery, intrigue, and courtroom drama will hold the reader's interest and contribute to sleepless nights.
FIRE IN THE OTHERWORLD There are circles within circles, lands of magic and wonder that touch upon our own. But now war is on the horizon in the mystical realm of the Sidhe-a brutal clash of Faery against Faery that threatens to cross secret boundaries into the unsuspecting world of mortal men. Once more young David Sullivan has been called upon to do the bidding of Lugh Samildinach, Lord of Tir-Nan-Og. Together with three friends-one white, one red, and one immortal-David embarks on an astonishing journey through a perilous kingdom of brittle brightness. But grim betrayal lies in the path of their quest for peace in the Otherworlds. And an inescapable doom in the terrifying judgment of Uktena, the great and hideous serpent....
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