BOOK REVIEW: “The True Tails of Baker and Taylor” by Jan Louch with Lisa Rogak (St. Martin’s Press, 288 pages, $25.99)
If you’re not an animal lover, or a book lover, don’t bother reading this review. “The True Tails of Baker and Taylor” will not appeal to you.
If you, like me, have a fondness for books and animals (cats in particular), you will be as smitten by the story of two cats named Baker and Taylor as thousands of readers and librarians were by those cats in the 1980s and 1990s.
Subtitled “The Library Cats Who Left Their Pawprints on a Small Town … and the World,” the book is a memoir by Jan Louch, a retired librarian who lives in Nevada.
Louch’s co-author, Lisa Rogak, is a fellow ailurophile who recently wrote “Cats on the Job.” That book helped spread the fame of local cat celebrity Boswell of Boswell’s Books in Shelburne Falls.
Louch explains that from an early age, she loved animals and reading. The two came together for her professionally when she and a fellow librarian at their small Nevada library decided to handle their mouse problem by acquiring a cat to live in the library.
They researched a variety of cat breeds and fell in love with Scottish folds, placid and affectionate cats with round faces and ears that fold over.
Thinking a lone cat would be lonely when the library was closed, Louch and her colleague wanted two Scottish folds. They started by pooling their resources and purchasing one.
Looking for an appropriate literary name, Louch named the young male cat Baker after the book-distribution company Baker & Taylor. She told one of the company’s representatives about the name and explained that she was hoping someday to afford a second cat named Taylor.
Baker & Taylor offered to buy a second cat in exchange for the rights to use the felines’ images in promotional materials. As the years went on, the book distributors ended up paying for the cats’ food and veterinary bills as the publicity campaign achieved huge success.
Libraries across the country displayed posters of the Scottish folds. As time went by, individuals and even tours came to the library to meet the feline librarians. School children even formed a Baker and Taylor fan club.
Louch and Rogak share stories about the cats’ interactions with library staff, patrons, and the general public. Louch also illustrates the ways in which Baker and Taylor changed her own life for the better.
Copies of “The True Tails of Baker and Taylor,” signed by Lisa Rogak, are available at Boswell’s Books.
Tinky Weisblat is the author of “The Pudding Hollow Cookbook” and “Pulling Taffy.” Visit her website, www.TinkyCooks.com.