Tom Wilson

""Bunny told me there were secrets about me that she would take to the grave, secrets that no one would ever hear, including me . . ." Tom Wilson always felt something wasn't quite right. His parents, Bunny and George, were much older than other kids' parents. There were no baby photos of him in the house. At school, classmates called him Indian, despite his parents' Irish-Quebecois background. And as he got older, friends, lovers and even family members remarked on his uncanny resemblance to Bunny's closest relative, her niece Janie Lazare, whose father was a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec. Tom wouldn't learn the truth about his identity until he was fifty-three, when a tour handler whose mother had known Tom's now deceased parents let it slip that he was adopted. It would be another two years until he worked up the courage to confront Janie with what the handler had told him, what all his life he had suspected. Janie--the woman whom Tom called cousin, whom he'd known his whole life, who had lived with Tom and Bunny after George died--immediately broke into tears and confessed. She was his biological mother. In this incredible story about family and identity, carefully guarded secrets and profound acts of forgiveness, Tom Wilson writes about growing up as an outsider in two families--the family he lost, and the family who took him in. His story takes us from working-class Hamilton of the 1960s and '70s, neighbourhoods peopled by fall-guy wrestlers, broke mobsters and WWII vets, to today, as he continues his journey to connect with the man he now knows to be his father and with his Mohawk heritage and relatives, discovering Kahnawake chiefs, Brooklyn "skywalkers" and nomadic Arnold Palmer groupies among them. With a rare gift for storytelling and a remarkable story to tell, Tom Wilson writes with unflinching honesty and extraordinary compassion about his search for identity and for the truth about his family. Moving, captivating and at times hysterically funny, Beautiful Scars is a story about the families who raise us, and the families who course through our veins."--

Steeltown Secrets, Mohawk Skywalkers and the Road Home

Beautiful Scars

Working is a Lousy Way to Earn a Living

Ziggy

Hang in There!

Thinking of You

Ziggy Comes Smiling Through

Ziggy Weighs in

Ziggy Wins the Day

Ziggy II. Ein Glück, daß es mich gibt!

Plants Are Some of My Favorite People

Plants are Some of My Favourite People

Ziggy and Friends

In "The Z Files", Ziggy boldly goes where no other cartoon character has gone before, investigating life from A to Z and seeking a user-friendly reality in the midst of our high-tech modern world. From discovering crop circles in his backyard vegetable garden to becoming hopelessly entangled in the Internet, this collection is an all-out conspiracy to brighten your day and keep you laughing from beginning to end.

Ziggy's The Z Files

For the past thirty years, Ziggy and his band of merry friends have offered their daily dose of optimism to more than 75 million faithful readers who identify with the characters' hopes and insecurities. Ziggy, who relates better to his animal friends than he does to people, always manages to find the bright spot, inspiring us to do the same. In this special 30th anniversary edition, Ziggy's friends pay tribute to the quintessential little guy in a large world, the lovable character with the big head and the generous heart. Together they take a nostalgic stroll down memory lane, touching on their favorite times with Ziggy. Complete with a timeline documenting milestones in Zig's life, Ziggy's Friends for Life is a must-read for fans and collectors alike!

A 3thAnniversary Tribute to Zig from All of His Friends

Ziggy's Friends For Life

Move over, Peanuts! Ziggy--the star of millions of greeting cards and hundreds of different types of merchandise--has a sensational treasury of his greatest moments for his fans around the world. Ziggy is one of the few cartoon characters with experiences so universal that readers identify with him and really care about what happens to him. Now carried in more than 250 newspapers in America and Europe, Ziggy, the world's most lovable loser, is, like each of us, a victim of life's daily headaches. Tom Wilson, Ziggy's creator says, "I suppose Ziggy is a composite of all those characters who were always coming up against things that went wrong--the eternal mishaps." The Los Angeles Times described Ziggy and his first treasury as "America's most complete and popular loser." From the ALA Booklist, "Ziggy is...as well developed as a hapless, neurotic individual trounced upon, even by so insignificant an object as a toothpaste tube." From the Chicago Sun-Times, "Although there is humor in Ziggy, more often there is poignancy." From the Washington Star, "There is...a Ziggy phenomenon." And from the Chicago Tribune, "Ziggy is a little man in a big bad world."

A New Collection of Ziggy Favorites

Encore! Encore!!

Fifty-two full-color Ziggy cartoon strips from the 1970s provide a chronicle of the popular character's, and our, problems, fears, troubles, mishaps, tribulations, and small triumphs.

The Best of the Seventies

Ziggy's Sunday Funnies

"It doesn't pay to live in the past ... there's no future in it." "Survival is the art of making the least of the worst and the most of the least!" "We should enjoy here while we're here cause there's no here, there!" In the great tradition of Ben Franklin, Will Rogers, and Forrest Gump, Ziggy offers his own homespun philosophy. Who knew? But who else is better qualified to contemplate life's mysteries. Ziggy suffers the slings and arrows of day-to-day living and yet still gets misty at the sight of a beautiful sunset. Simple, direct, and true, these heartfelt observations cover more than twenty-five years of Ziggy's experiences. This fun and inspiring collection is sure to strike a chord of appreciation in everyone.

Notable Quotes of Wisdom for Everyday Living

Ziggyisms

The charm of Ziggy is that he lives a sweetly simple life. Things often don't go his way, but he always perseveres and maintains his sunny outlook. Ziggy is Everyperson, the part of us that harbors warm feelings and good intentions but sometimes gets stepped on by a reckless world. In the great tradition of Ben Franklin, Roy Rogers, and Forrest Gump, Ziggy delivers his own homespun philosophy and retains his individualism and character, regardless of the transforming forces at work in a swiftly changing world. Since 1971, Ziggy has remained true to himself. The world has changed, and the topics addressed in the cartoon have changed along with it, but at his core, Ziggy himself has not changed. Readers wouldn't have it any other way. Comforted and inspired by his steadfastness, his tenacity, and his gentle spirit, Ziggy fans have been intensely loyal for over three decades-and that hasn't changed, either.Ziggy runs in more than 600 newspapers and reaches 75 million readers.

A Ziggy Collection

Character Matters

"Ziggy must be part of me, because he feels as if he's been with me all my life." --Tom Wilson No matter where you are, no matter what's going on in your life, Ziggy has been there. For the past 35 years, readers around the world have picked up newspapers, opened greeting card envelopes, or caught sight of T-shirts and there's Ziggy, unfailingly showing how to appreciate life and find the silver lining in any cloud. Tom Wilson's character--an admirable mix of Ben Franklin, Dale Carnegie, and Forrest Gump all rolled into a little bald icon--strikes a chord in everyone. And that's why so many will cherish A Little Character Goes a Long Way, a celebration of Ziggy himself. After all, it's the character of this character that's earned Ziggy such a special place in our hearts. This treasury includes many classic Ziggy frames and strips, each highlighting the traits that make Ziggy the upbeat, hopeful, and unflappable optimist that he is. There's Ziggy generally making molehills and wrinkles out of life's highest mountains and lowest valleys; Ziggy and his menagerie of pets; and Ziggy taking the time to appreciate nature's beauty at its best. This little Everyperson reminds us all of what's really important, and this treasury will undoubtedly do the same.

Tom Wilson

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