Little, Brown in ‘Dewey’ Deal
By John A. Sellers -- Publishers Weekly, 12/18/2008 9:30:00 AM
Beginning in fall 2009, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers will offer a children’s publishing program about Dewey Readmore Books, the cat who attracted worldwide fame as the library cat at the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa. Dewey lived at the library for 19 years, until his death in 2006, after having been found abandoned in the library’s book drop.
The announcement comes on the heels of the September publication of the adult memoir Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron (Dewey’s adoptive mother and former director of the library) with Bret Witter. That book quickly became a bestseller for Grand Central (which like Little, Brown, is a division of Hachette Book Group) and has more than 750,000 copies in print.
Editor-in-chief Liza Baker acquired North American rights to three books about Dewey from Peter McGuigan at Foundry Literary + Media. The first will be a September picture book by Myron and Witter, with illustrations by Steve James. Another picture book and a middle-grade title will follow. Additionally, New Line Cinema is adapting the original Dewey book for screen, with Meryl Streep set to star.
“From Puss in Boots to Stuart Little, children have always been entranced by tales of animals overcoming obstacles because, of course, they see themselves in these heroic characters,” said senior v-p and publisher Megan Tingley in a statement. “But the fact that Dewey’s story is true will make these books all the more inspiring and powerful.”
