Posted: October 9, 2009, 3 a.m. EDT
One cold winter morning in 1988,
Vicki Myron, a librarian for a small-town library in Iowa, found something unexpected in the library’s book drop-off box — an orange tabby kitten.
Myron kept the cat, which the town of Spencer named Dewey Readmore Books, and eventually wrote a book about his impact on the library, the community and herself. “Dewey, The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World” became a New York Times best seller. Myron has gone on to write a children’s book, “Dewey, There’s a Cat in the Library.” It, too, has made the Times’ best seller list.
Even though Dewey died in 2006, it appears as though his nine lives aren’t up just yet. Dewey’s image is now available for licensing.
The ThinkTank Emporium, a branding and consulting firm in Merrick, N.Y., has teamed up with Myron and co-author Bret Witter, Los Angeles-based marketing firm REV UP Enterprises, and literary agency Foundry Literary + Media to identify and develop licensing opportunities based on the Dewey books.
“We are proud to forge this significant strategic relationship with Vicki Myron and look forward to helping position Dewey as a licensing evergreen,” Joan Luck of The ThinkTank Emporium said in a statement. “Dewey was in the right place for Spencer and most certainly for its librarian; we are certain that the right time for Dewey licensing opportunities is now.”
The companies expect Dewey, as a licensed property, to be embraced by dozens of product categories across the adult, children and pet markets.