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.