PetSpace at The Book Jewel: A Community Book Event

Whether you’re an avid reader or a one-book-per-year kind of person, we welcome you to join us at The Book Jewel (or online) for a virtual Q&A with renowned author Catherine Ryan Hyde on her 2013 novel, Where We Belong. The lively discussion will fill in any gaps of the story for you, and you may even be chosen for cuddles with The Book Jewel’s resident rescue cat, Paiges!* Plus, the first 20 in-person attendees will receive a FREE PetSpace “adopt.” hat and a Paws & Pages Book Club bookmark as a welcome gift!

If you would like to read Where We Belong prior to the event, check your local library or purchase a copy from our wonderful hosts at The Book Jewel. We hope you’ll be our guest for light refreshments, free PetSpace swag, and an engaging discussion about this heartwarming tale of finding our place in the world and connecting with people and animals. See you there!

*While PetSpace loves your companion animals, we kindly ask that your personal pets stay home from this event for Paiges’ comfort.

DATE: Sunday, June 14th

TIME: 2–4pm

LOCATION: The Book Jewel | 6259 West 87th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90045

This is a hybrid in-person and virtual event. We hope you can join us at The Book Jewel, however your registration email will include a webinar link for those unable to make it in person.

About Where We Belong by Catherine Ryan Hyde

Fourteen-year-old Angie and her mom are poised at the edge of homelessness … again. The problem is her little sister, Sophie. Sophie has an autism-like disorder, and a tendency to shriek. No matter where they live, home never seems to last long.

Until they move in with Aunt Vi, across the fence from a huge black Great Dane who changes everything. Sophie falls in love immediately, and begins to imitate the “inside of the dog,” which, fortunately, is a calm place. The shrieking stops. Everybody begins to breathe again.

Until Paul Inverness, the dog’s grumpy, socially isolated owner, moves to the mountains, and it all begins again.

Much to Angie’s humiliation, when they’re thrown out of Aunt Vi’s house, Angie’s mom moves the family to the mountains after Paul and his dog. There, despite a fifty-year difference in their ages, Angie and Paul form a deep friendship, the only close friendship either has known. Angie is able to talk to him about growing up gay, and Paul trusts Angie with his greatest secret, his one dream. When the opportunity arrives, Angie decides to risk everything to help Paul’s dream come true, even their friendship and her one chance at a real home— the only thing she’s dreamed of since her father was killed. A place she can never be thrown out. A place she can feel she belongs.

About the Author

Catherine Ryan Hyde is the author of more than 50 published and forthcoming books. Her books have hit the New York Times and Amazon Charts bestseller lists, among others, and she held the #1 most popular author spot on Amazon.

Her bestselling 1999 novel Pay It Forward was made into a major Warner Brothers motion picture. It was chosen by the American Library Association for its Best Books for Young Adults list, and translated into more than two dozen languages for distribution in over 30 countries. Her newer novels have been translated into fourteen languages and achieved Kindle bestseller status in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain.

As a professional public speaker she has addressed the National Conference on Education, twice spoken at Cornell University, met with Americorps members at the White House, and shared a dais with Bill Clinton.

Photo: Mark Dektor

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