Book Reading/Signing Benefits Humane Society

Have you ever wondered what cats would say if they could talk about the families they live with? Stormy Brandon did just that in his book Life Is A Hammock: “Mew”sings of a Traveling Cat. You can hear Stormy’s “daddy” and co-author read from this book on Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 1 PM at Hook on Books, 148 South Main Street in Cottonwood, AZ.

Stormy, a black part-Siamese cat, wrote the book in his own voice with the help of “Daddy Sy”. The book tells the tale of two cats that travel around the country during the 1970s and 80s and camp with their adopted parents. The stories combine adventure and humor with photo cartoons to keep the reader smiling.

 Brandon will read selections from the book and autographed copies will be available for sale at the reading. Any profits from sales will be donated to the Verde Valley Humane Society.

When asked about why he supports the Verde Valley Humane Society, Sy Brandon said, “Humane Societies match our feline and canine friends with loving families. Our most recent cat was a Pet of the Week from a Humane Society in York, Pennsylvania. The fifteen years that we shared with him were some of the best years of our lives. Now that we live in Cottonwood, we want to support the Verde Valley Humane Society to help enable them to continue their fine work.”

When he said “we”, he was referring to himself and his wife Anita. Anita is a polymer clay jewelry artist and will be selling her original design smiling cat pendant/necklaces at the book reading and will be donating a portion of her profits to the Verde Valley Humane Society as well.

Sy and Anita moved to Cottonwood in 2009. In addition to jewelry making, Anita is an oboist and performs with the Rio Verde Chamber Ensemble and the Cottonwood Community Band. Her jewelry designs can be found at http://www.artfire.com/ext/shop/studio/MelodyODesigns. Sy is a tuba player with the Cottonwood Community Band and a composer as well as an author. In addition to helping Stormy write his book, Sy authored A Composer’s Guide to Understanding Music with Activities for Listeners, Interpreters, and Composers that is published by Lulu Press. In 2010, he was commissioned by the Arizona Commission on the Arts to compose a band composition to celebrate Arizona’s Centennial. He is also chair of the Verde Council and a facilitator of music classes for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Yavapai College.