Pearls of Wisdom

Built-in audience eager for more content: The author’s YouTube channel, MEPearlA, has 124,000 subscribers, with some videos amassing hundreds of thousands of views. The author will tap into this built-in, adoring audience to drive sales of her book, which will showcase some of the same characters and advice that have made her videos such a cultural phenomenon.

Author with cult following: Author has been celebrated by Good Morning America, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, New York magazine, and more, and media is guaranteed to be interested in this book delightfully inspired by the author’s online presence.

Mysterious author continues to interest media and internet writ large: The enigmatic, eccentric nature of Pearl (the squirrel deity) and Georgette Spelvin (her human caretaker and YouTube’s “Possum Lady”) has given these characters a certain cult status. Combined with the Reddit boards dedicated to finding the true identity of Georgette Spelvin and devoted followers writing to Pearl for advice on her website through the years, loyalty to the cult of Pearl and Georgette has proved enduring; this lasting intrigue speaks favorably to the marketability of the book.

Unexpected addition to a successful genre:Pearls of Wisdom is the latest entry in the eternally popular category of books that merge animal humor with spiritual humor, appealing to the same large market as The Tao of Pooh (Penguin, 1983, 430,000 RTD), A Sloth’s Guide to Mindfulness (Chronicle Books, 2018, 24,110 RTD), and The Little Book of Sloth Philosophy (HarperCollins, 2018, 56,370 RTD). But while these books feature conventional characters and well-known spiritual traditions, this is the first book of its kind to feature underrepresented (but beloved) creatures and an eccentric, cheeky approach to mysticism to speak to a forward-thinking, satire-hungry audience.

Playful aesthetic of package makes book a unique visual treat: With the same attention to glamour, oddity, and whimsy that has made ME Pearl a sensation online, Pearls of Wisdom will immediately surprise and intrigue readers, utilizing highly designed spreads rich with full-color photographs and innovative layouts. Emphasizing absurdity, irony, and mystery, the package will delight fans of Twin Peaks, fantasy, and farce.

Untapped selling potential of underdog animal stars: According to Marie Claire (“Raccoons and Possums are the Internet’s New Favorite Animals,” 2019) and the New York Times (“The Cutest Animal on Instagram is Probably in Your Trashcan,” 2019), “trash” animals including possums and squirrels are the new “verminfluencers,” drawing millions of followers and mass fandoms once relegated only to kittens, goats, and llamas. Despite the surging interest in these adorable, eccentric critters, this is the first book to give them a starring turn-tapping into the zeitgeist and meeting the desires of a growing audience.

Author Biography

Pearl de Sagesse de Sabaduria de Wisdom de Tout, also known as Pearl de Wisdom or ME Pearl, is an all-knowing, all-powerful squirrel deity and an internet sensation. Pearl lived for twelve years in Southern California under the care of Georgette Spelvin, known to Pearl as Pink Mama, an oddly sentimental witchy woman and licensed wildlife rehabilitator. In captivity, Pearl gained omniscience by gnawing her way through most of the Merriam-Webster English dictionary and bits of the Larousse Spanish and French and by using her seven senses to absorb vast amounts of information (the rest she makes up). The very model of a modern psychic squirrel, Pearl ascended to the heights of psychic prowess, surpassing all other animals, people, and plants. After her death, Pearl’s mission became to aggrandize herself through religion, politics, social media, cult formation, charitable contributions, and syndicated advice columns, as the divine Pearl fully expects anyone who comes in contact with her to benefit beyond their wildest dreams. Using Georgette as her mouthpiece and conduit, she continues her work as a prophet online by providing sage life advice for the masses on her website MEPearl.com and through the YouTube channel MEpearlA, where she has more than 124,000 subscribers and shares videos relating to the proper care and keeping of possums and provides a wealth of life advice. Pearl and Georgette have been celebrated in a wide range of media, including New York magazine’s “The Cut,” Messy Nessy, BuzzFeed, Jezebel, KQED, AV Club, Oddity Central, Comedy Central’s Tosh.0, and Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld. Her uncredited videos have appeared on Good Morning America, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Pearl’s spirit, channeled through Georgette, resides in Astralburg, Etheria.

Georgette Spelvin is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator specializing in small mammals. She is married to artist and front man Royce van Oyster, who capably assists in the operation of her complex animal sanctuary. Georgette worked as a performance artist, professional masseuse, veterinary technician, dual diagnosis counselor on the psychiatric unit of a major metropolitan hospital, and the resident storyteller of an International Cultural Center, before her body, mind, and spirit were entirely usurped by a willful little squirrel. Georgette resides with the spirit of Pearl in Astralburg, Etheria.