Dewey : The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron

A gift from my mother many years ago that I finally got around to reading.

Dewey was put in the Spencer public library book drop on a very cold day in Iowa.  When the librarians discovered him the next morning his paws were completely frost bitten and he couldn't walk on them.  Incredibly, the library secured permission to make him the library's cat (in spite of public health concerns, liability issues, etc).  The citizens got to vote on what his name would be and he was very popular with the kids who came to the library's story times.  Dewey lived in the library for almost 20 years and became a staple of the town's community.  

This book is written by the library director who cared for Dewey and that is the book's greatest weakness.  Library directors are not writers.  In spite of having incredible material for her story,  she doesn't seem to know where to begin it or how best to proceed in telling it.  But I chose to read this book at a time when I wanted an easy read, and the story is interesting enough that it is easy to ignore the not-so-great writing.

Besides the story of this amazing cat and his funny personality the other highlight of the book is Myron's retelling of the history of Spencer.  Spencer is a midwestern farming town that was hit hard by economic changes in the 1980's.  The bigger businesses in Spencer moved away and jobs were very scarce at the time and Myron describes job-seekers coming to library and librarians helping them learn to use computers so they could search for work.  This is one of the best things a public library can be used for - free help to get your life going in a better direction.  Myron did a good job describing the workings of a library and what it takes to keep a public library relevant to townspeople as our society changes.

So if you like animals and have a care about what public libraries (and perhaps an interest in what life is like in a small mid-western town) you might enjoy this one.

I'll leave you with my favorite picture of Sir Dewey Readmore Books and the link to his website (http://www.deweyreadmorebooks.com/index.php).