Pete the Cat lives on-Dean has found a new collaborator in his wife, Kim. In 2012 Dean and Litwin had a falling out, and their split, like an acrimonious divorce, had to be navigated with the help of attorneys. According to Publisher’s Weekly, Pete titles sold nearly 3 million copies last year alone, good enough for fifth place in the amorphous children’s book genre, which includes the Hunger Games trilogy.īut despite a possible television cartoon deal and more Pete books in the works, the cat’s trajectory will have to continue without Litwin, who wrote the text for the first four Pete picture books and is credited with giving the character his signature voice on the accompanying CDs. The eighteen titles-five hardcover picture books and an array of paperbacks used as beginning-reader materials-have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list for roughly 200 weeks, combined. Since HarperCollins acquired the Pete franchise five years ago, more than 5 million books have been sold in the U.S. Eric” Litwin, as a children’s book phenomenon. But then Pete took on a life of his own: first as a two-dimensional mascot of the local indie-art circuit and then, thanks to a chance meeting between Dean and Atlanta songwriter Eric “Mr.
It’s been fifteen years since James Dean-an Alabama-born electrical engineer turned self-taught artist-first painted Pete in hopes of making a few dollars. And that simple message has made Pete a sensation from China to Spain. But by keeping his head up and looking on the bright side, he always wins. He steps in mounds of strawberries and mud. He tumbles off his skateboard and cracks his favorite sunglasses. With blue fur and big stoner eyes, Pete strums a guitar, rides a skateboard, and surfs with a coolness you could mistake for indifference-if he weren’t always singing happy choruses or exclaiming “Groovy!,” “Everything is cool!,” or his catchphrase, “It’s all good!” More than anything, Pete is a study in perseverance, a rebel against negative vibes: The buttons on his shirt mysteriously pop off. In her adoration, my daughter joins legions of kids around the world who know the optimistic kitty from a series of bestselling children’s books. A painted cat literally sets the tone for our day. On days we spot the Pete sticker, she announces it to her teachers on days we don’t, she mopes. For the next seven months, she will drag me by the finger around the parking lot almost every morning on Pete safaris. By the time we park the car, Lola is convinced that Pete must live in the parking lot of her new school.
So Pete the Cat stares back at us the whole way, our sleepy-eyed shepherd.
As it turns out, the van with the sticker is headed where we are.
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