THE BOOKSTORE PETS BOOSTING BUSINESS

Wander into Wild Rumpus Books in Minneapolis and you might miss the tawny cat napping in the window, spine pressed against the sunniest corner of the sill.

- Elisabeth Egan

UNITED STATES -

Venture deeper into the cozy warren of picture and chapter books and you will begin to detect a theme, if not a whiff, of birdseed. That lazy feline known as Booker T. Jones turns out to be one of many beasts on the premises.

Dave is a 27-year-old cockatiel who looks as if he applied too much coral rouge. Mo, a 26-year-old Barbary dove, roosts peacefully in a cage atop the sale shelf.

There is also Newbery and Caldecott, a pair of gentle chinchillas; the Stinky Cheese Man, who, like all crested geckos, licks his own eyeballs; and Eartha Kitt, a jet-black Manx who politely recoiled from a visitor's hand while curled, cinnamon bun-style, in a mail bin.

And, finally, there are 10 fish in a tank in the bathroom, all named for the children's book illustrators Mac Barnett and Shawn Harris. Their successors will be too, according to bookstore tradition.

A menagerie like this has been a hallmark of Wild Rumpus since the store opened in 1992. When the original owner sold the business to four employees in 2024, the critters were part of the deal.

"They're the No. 1 draw," said Ms Anna Hersh, a co-owner and animal care coordinator who visited the brood daily during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. "We get a whole bunch of readers, but people really come to see the animals."

Docile dogs and aloof cats have long been fixtures of independent bookstores, as ubiquitous as free bookmarks. For the most part, they serve as quiet mascots - steadfast and loyal, deigning to have their heads patted or ears scratched while humans tend to the business of words.

Now, thanks to social media, many stores have put themselves on the map with the help of little creatures, including some unlikely stars (bearded dragon, anyone?).

The pairing makes sense: Books and animals both provide joy, companionship and windows into other worlds. The former are, admittedly, a lot tidier.