The Fun New Cat Book for Cat Lovers:
The Fun New Cat Book for Cat Lovers:
"In Defense of Cats!"
"In Defense of Cats!"
About the Author, Illustrator & Digital Designer
Janette Noelle Dean was raised in Wisconsin and Minnesota in the United States and grew up loving nature and animals.
Her mother Rose Dean, the book's talented illustrator, and her father Gary Dean made Janette's great affection for cats possible by bringing home five special cats through the years.
Janette also had her much-loved cat Fiona when she originally wrote In Defense of Cats! on a beautiful day in Los Angeles in response to negative comments she had heard through the years about cats.
Not surprisingly, two of Janette's most favorite childhood poems featured cats: Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat (part of the Library of Congress' Books That Shaped America exhibition) and T.S. Eliot's Growltiger's Last Stand (now part of the bestselling musical "Cats") which her dad would read to her and her brother David with great gusto.
David actually helped greatly in the online publishing of In Defense of Cats! by contributing his digital Photoshop and graphic design expertise to prepare the images for electronic publishing.
Janette most recently resided in the Tahoe-Reno area with her two shelter-adopted dogs, Finnan and Keira, and cats, Tristan (a handsome "black panther") and Pumpkin, an apricot tabby who is a rescued barn cat. (Janette's other three pets were found on the incredible Petfinder site and their rescue stories are in Janette's Cat Book Blog.)
Rose is a lifelong Midwesterner and has loved nature, animals, and drawing since childhood. In August 2012, after their cat Misty passed on, Rose and Gary adopted new cat Shane (below) who was the Pet of the Week (with former name Paisley) from a local animal shelter in the La Crosse, WI area. Shane makes everyday more fun with his sweet ways and humorous antics. His "Please, won't you take me home?" look below was more than Gary could resist. In 2016, forlorn and skittish stray cat, Pumpkin, also joined the household and is now an extremely content and carefree housecat.
