Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World is a book for cat-lovers and all others who enjoy sentimental animal-human bonding. It is the story of a library director and her bond with Dewey Readmore Books, the ginger alley cat who touched so many lives.

Library Director Vicki Myron — who authored this autobiographical story with the help of Bret Witter — found Dewey stuffed in the library drop box on a day that was “a killing freeze, the kind that made it almost painful to breathe.” Myron rescued the kitten, warming it and feeding it. Afterward, despite its frost-bitten feet, the kitten stood up and “rubbed his tiny head against her hand and purred.” Myron explains that “it was as if ... he wanted to personally thank every person he ever met for saving his life.” This cat would go on to be the most famous library cat ever and a source of pride for the small town of Spencer, Iowa.

The title itself invokes images of other famous animals — think, “Lassie! Timmy fell into the well again!” Yet Dewey’s heroism comes not in rescuing small children from wells but from the impact he had on the people of Spencer. Myron presents a laundry list of amazing stories: Dewey bringing disabled children out of their shells, playing hide and seek with the library staff, single-handedly reviving the library and becoming a media darling. Yet at times the novel attempts to personify Dewey in such a way that can leave the reader scoffing, such as Dewey’s obsession with rubber bands. Myron describes how Dewey bit off the rubber bands holding together file cards, leaving them in “perfectly neat stacks, not a card out of place.” Myron also tells us that Dewey “was unfailingly kind to stranger and staffer alike” and illustrates story after story about how Dewey transformed library patrons. Dewey is credited with lifting the hardships of economic burden, bringing joy and cheer to large groups of small children and even reading Myron’s thoughts. When we delve into long stretches of Dewey’s antics, the events begin to feel a bit contrived.

Myron pairs her stories about Dewey with autobiographical elements. She describes her first marriage to an abusive alcoholic, losing the family farm, receiving her college degree while on welfare and struggling to raise a daughter as a single parent. She details the joy of being the first in her family to graduate from college and her love for her daughter Jodi. The novel takes on especially somber tone when Myron describes her struggle with breast cancer and how Dewey helped her recover emotionally after a brutal recovery. These memoirs are poignant and touching and interlaced with descriptions of small town life in Midwest America. In many ways, the book is like three stories in one, each with a different purpose: Dewey’s story, Myron’s story and a discussion of small town America. In some ways, these jumps are effective: They give time for Dewey to grow up and allow the book a greater depth that shows Dewey’s impact beyond the superficial. But the transitions between the three stories are choppy and disjointed, so the reader never gets a full picture from any of the stories.

Despite these faults, Dewey is a heart-warming book, easy to read and easy to fall in love with. There were a few moments that could make even the most stony-hearted teary. One leaves the book refreshed and inspired.

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Created Jul 10, 2009 at 4:37pm • Submit your own review...