Dewey

Dewey: the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

by Vicki Myron

Read December 2008

As a librarian, I had to read this, didn't I? This was a pretty good book, but I didn't read it for the literary experience. I read it to find out more about this cat that lived in a library in the small town of Spencer, Iowa. The author, Vicki Myron, inserted a little about her life. But this wasn't a Vicki Myron memoir, this was a book about Dewey the cat. I should rephrase that. Most readers outside of Spencer, Iowa, don't really care about Vicki Myron's life. Instead, they want to hear about this beautiful long-haired marmalade cat named Dewey Readmore Books.

Vicki found Dewey as a kitten. He had been put in the bookdrop one freezing night. They weren't sure he'd make it because he had suffered due to exposure to the cold. But he did survive not only the weather, but non-cat lovers as well. Of course, some people took a long time to warm up to the cat, but he became the king of the library. Everyone was won over - those allergic to cats, those afraid of cats, those curmudgeons who thought that a library is no place for a cat.

I was a little irritated at the tone that Vicki Myron took at the end of the book. Dewey was her cat, she claims. But I wonder how all of the other library staff felt - those who fed Dewey and cared for him and loved him.

Vicki said that she asked the vet about Dewey's breed. The vet told her that he was just a mix - an alley cat. Not so! I can tell from the pictures of Dewey and the description of his loving demeanor - Dewey is a Ragdoll. He sounds just like Andycat.