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Library Cat Gets $1.25-Million Book DealDewey Readmore Books, the live-in mascot of the Spencer (Iowa) Public Library who died at age 19 on November 29, 2006, has caught one last treasure for SPL Director Vicki Myron: Grand Central Publishing signed a $1.25-million book deal April 2 for Dewey’s life story. Myron will coauthor the biography, tentatively titled Dewey, a Small Town, a Library, and the World’s Most Beloved Cat, with Bret Witter, who was involved in publishing the Chicken Soup for the Soul series.Dewey joined the staff of SPL in 1988 after being rescued by Myron on a cold January morning from the library book drop, where he had been abandoned. His fame grew worldwide as tourists discovered him living at the library; Dewey starred on library Friends’ fundraising postcards, cat-themed calendars, and in the 1997 documentary Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat, and resides posthumously on the library website. The scale of the book deal “just floored me,” Myron told the Associated Press April 4, noting, “This is the way Dewey’s whole life went. He drew people in his whole life from around the world. [The library staff] had nothing to do with it. It’s serendipitous.” Dewey’s obituary appeared in more than 250 publications. Likening readers’ potential interest in the Dewey biography to the bestseller Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World’s Worst Dog, Grand Central publisher Jamie Raab said in the April 4 New York Times, “To me, it was just about how animals can bring out the humanity in us, and I loved that.” Posted on April 6, 2007. |
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