Before we share info about this month’s book, we’re excited to announce that this year, we launched a new monthly “Community Kindness Sponsorship,” which helps offset the cost of the extra 15 books we hide after scavenger hunt weekend every month (the “random act of kindness” books!). We are so grateful to share that our longtime friend and Tome Gnome supporter, Cynthia Bardo, is our Community Kindness Sponsor for May! Thank you, Cynthia!

Do you know someone who might be interested in partnering with us as a Community Kindness Sponsor in 2025 ($250)? We have three months left! Please send us an email (tucsontomegnome[at] gmail.com) and we can send you some information 🙂

AND NOW, for what you’ve been waiting for: all about this month’s hidden book!

About the book, from Penguin Random House:

“When Courtney Gustafson moved into a rental house in the Poets Square neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona, she didn’t know that the property came with thirty feral cats. Focused only on her own survival—in a new relationship, during a pandemic, with poor mental health and a job that didn’t pay enough—Courtney was reluctant to spend any of her own time or money caring for the wayward animals.

But the cats—their pleading eyes, their ribs showing, the new kittens born in the driveway—didn’t give her a choice.

She had no idea about the grief and hardship of animal rescue, the staggering size of the problem in neighborhoods across the country. And she couldn’t have imagined how that struggle—toward an ethics of care, of individuals trying their best amid spectacularly failing systems—would help pierce a personal darkness she’d wrestled with for much of her life. She also didn’t expect that the TikTok and Instagram accounts she created to share the quirky personalities of the wild but lovable cats, like Monkey, Goldie, Francois, and Sad Boy, would end up saving her home.

Courtney writes toward a vision of connectedness, showing how taking care of the cats reshaped her understanding of empathy, resilience, and the healing power of wholly showing up for something outside yourself. She takes us from the dark alleys where she feeds feral cats to inside the tragically neglected homes where she climbs over piles of trash, and occasionally animals, and then into her own driveway with the cats she loves and must sometimes let go. Compelling and tender, Poets Square is as much about cats as it is about the urgency of care, community, and a little bit of dumb hope.”

About the author, Courtney Gustafson:

“Courtney Gustafson is a cat rescuer, community organizer, and creator of Poets Square Cats on TikTok and Instagram. She lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.”

Why I selected Poets Square for the May 2025 Giveaway:

• Although on the surface this book seems like it’s about cats (and it is), it’s also about so much more than cats: this book addresses serious issues such as mental health, homelessness, abuse, grief, and the loss of beloved pets.
• This book takes place in Tucson, starting in the Poets Square neighborhood and moving through town to other stray cat colonies. It provides a realistic perspective on neighborhoods we might not experience, but should know about.
• According to Kirkus Reviews, “Rescuing cats and working at a food bank, Gustafson discovered that the experiences of being unhoused, friendless, and hungry were not limited to cats. While her cat rescue work has given her “a community, a sense of rootedness” and purpose, it has also given her “an intimate knowledge of suffering, a witnessing,” she writes, “I never meant to inherit.” An affecting testimony to the need for caring.”
• Finally, this book reminds us why we love the animals that wander into our lives. We might not know that we need them until we have them and love them.