When Pete the Cat stepped in a large pile of strawberries, his new white sneakers turned bright red. Did Pete cry? Goodness no!
Pete the Cat, the cobalt blue feline, is back at it again, this time rockin’ his new school shoes.
And he’s as laid back as ever. When this kindergartner kitty eats lunch in a big noisy cafeteria, you think he frets? No way. Or as Pete the Cat meows it, “Goodness No!”
Two weeks after its release, “Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes” is No. 2 on the New York Times Best Seller List for picture books. The first Pete the Cat book also climbed back on the list. “Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes” holds the No. 6 spot.
James Dean, illustrator of the book — and featured artist at the upcoming Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival — is known for his whimsical paintings of Pete the Cat. For many years, Dean, who lives in the McDonough area, has enjoyed a strong local following and was a staple at arts festivals. The cartoonish Pete the Cat with big yellow eyes has made his way into Picasso’s “Dream,” and he’s joined the Beatles on Abbey Road.
His 2008 exhibit “Think Responsibly, Drink Responsively: A Cat’s Commentary on Wine Connoisseurship” featured the whiskered character sipping wine, specifically “Cat-bernets.”
But after a chance meeting that same year with Eric Litwin — a local songwriter with an idea to make Pete the Cat a storybook — Dean’s art, and cat, went in a different direction.
“He put the cat in shoes,” said Dean of Litwin. “I had never done that before. It was perfect.”
Setting down the bottle and lacing up shoes put Dean and his cat on the big stage.
The first book was initially self-published, but brisk sales and a YouTube video featuring sisters reading and singing got the attention of HarperCollins. A deal was inked.
The first book was about a kitty stepping into strawberries and blueberries but, no matter what, he kept movin’ and groovin’ and singing his song because, as the story goes, “it’s all good.”
In the new book, Pete the Cat sports his signature coolness, toting a guitar, looking as though he might sing a Tom Petty song. (The book comes with a free song you can download online.)
“Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes” also features more cats and, for the first time, Pete the Cat’s mama. The yellow feline was inspired by Dean’s yellow cat, Frida.
Dean’s inspiration for Pete the Cat goes back more than a decade when he rushed to capture an image of his pet at the time, a pensive critter named Pete. Before he could take the picture, Pete had darted away. So Dean drew the cat instead.
Today, Dean has five cats, and they all have a little Pete the Cat in them: the way his new kitten Abbey relishes being carried around the house; how Fefe sits and watches him paint for hours. And then there’s laid-back Bob, taking everything in stride, just like the books’ Pete.
Gearing up for a publicity tour that will put him on the road for most of September, Dean said his life can feel frantic at times. But he doesn’t have to look far for a reminder on how to live his own life. He just picks up a paintbrush, or his books.
“Pete is really calm and relaxed about everything. He’s going to school, playing his guitar and totally calm. I try to get at that in the art. I think,” he said, “we can learn a lot from our cats.”
Meet James Dean and Eric Litwin
11:30 a.m., Sept. 4. As part of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival, Dean and Litwin will lead a Pete the Cat parade in the grassy area on Clairemont Avenue behind Emory Medical Care Foundation. 101 W. Ponce de Leon Ave., Decatur. They will perform on the Children’s Stage afterward in the Decatur square.
www.decaturbookfestival.com
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