'Dewey' Author Gets Million-Dollar Deal at Dutton

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 8/4/2009 11:43:00 AM

Peter McGuigan at Foundry sold a new book by Dewey author Vicki Myron to Dutton in a deal that's rumored to be in the seven figures. Myron, a Midwest librarian who shot to the top of the bestseller lists with her 2008 book about caring for a cat she discovered in her Iowa branch, was at Hachette, which published the hardcover edition of Dewey in September 2008 and also has paperback rights. (Since the book hit, Hachette has acquired two picture books about Dewey from McGuigan—the first, Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library, is coming out September 1—and New Line nabbed film rights, with Meryl Streep supposedly attached to star.)

The industry chatter is that the Penguin imprint paid a $2 million advance for Dewey's Nine Lives, which is in the same vein as Dewey. McGuigan said, in describing the book, that it's about the "amazing relationships between cats and their people" and added that it will also feature new stories about Dewey himself. Bret Witter, who co-wrote Dewey, will again work with Myron on Nine Lives. Carrie Thornton, who will edit, acquired North American rights, and Dutton plans to publish in fall 2010.