Meet Spike from Left Bank Books
We begin our tour of bookstore pets in St. Louis, MO, at Left Bank Books. Their resident cat, Spike, has been with the store for about ten years and serves as part-time night manager and full-time attention hoarder.
I was introduced to Spike through Lauren Wiser, Marketing and Publicity Manager for Left Bank, and Sarah Holt, Children’s and Teen Specialist. They tell me that Spike is actually the third Left Bank Books black cat, following Captain Nemo, who was rescued from drowning, and Jamaica, named after Jamaica Kincaid. (Author and cat have met.)
“We use our black cats in our branding,” says Holt, “like our tote bags and the custom scratcher tickets we’re using for the upcoming Independent Bookstore Day.”
Holt and Wiser tell me that Spike also guest stars in Emily Giffin’s Where We Belong, was featured on Mental Floss’s 10 Excellent Bookstore Cats, was named 2012 BEA Bookstore Cat of the Year, and has a staff picks page, which you can see here.
“Spike is wonderful! And he would love to be even more famous than he already is,” says Holt. “We hope the fame doesn’t go to his head,” added Wiser.
