The True Tails of Baker and Taylor: The Library Cats Who Left Their Pawprints on a Small Town..And the World

Written by Jan Louch and Lisa Rogak

Narrated by Cynthia Darlow

The memoir of small-town librarian Jan Louch, whose pair of Scottish Fold cats became the mascots of the company Baker Taylor--and beloved by librarians and readers nationwide. It all started when Jan Louch, assistant librarian at the Douglas County Public Library in Carson Valley, Nevada, and a coworker acquired two Scottish Fold cats to keep mice away from the town's new library. Jan called the cats Baker and Taylor because the names fit the felines' mild temperaments, and because she dealt with the book distribution company on a daily basis. When Jan agreed to let the company photograph the cats for a poster, she couldn't know that they would go on to become the most famous library cats in the world. It was enough for Jan that everyone who visited the library fell in love with the cats. But then the poster became a hit. Children from across the country wrote letters, which Jan answered for Baker and Taylor, and fans traveled from far and wide to see Baker holding court at the circulation desk and Taylor in his unusual sitting-Buddha pose. In this charming memoir, Jan celebrates these wonderful cats and the people--readers, cat-lovers, and many others--that came together around them.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Recorded Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 3, 2016
• ISBN: 9781501919688

Reviews for The True Tails of Baker and Taylor

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Baker and Taylor were two library cats (Scottish folds) in small-town Nevada, who lived in the 1980s and 90s and were named after the bookselling company, Baker & Taylor. When the company found out about the cats, they decided to use them in the company’s promotional material, propelling the cats to stardom and creating a lasting image for the company, as they still use the cats’ likenesses 20+ years later. Books and cats – my two favourite things! I also have three Baker & Taylor shopping bags, where I store unread books! I really enjoyed this. There is a section of photos in the middle of the book. Baker and Taylorare so cute, and each had their own personalities. They even had a fan club made up of a grade 2 class elsewhere in the country. The teacher had her class write letters (to help them with their writing) every year to the cats, and send gifts. These were quite cute. There was (like with Dewey’s book) some biographical information about the librarian (and author) who mainly took care of the cats, as well.