Puss In Books (Dewey: A Small Town, a Library and the World's Most Beloved Cat - Vicki Myron)

Member Name: collingwood21

Product:	Dewey: A Small Town, a Library and the World's Most Beloved Cat - Vicki Myron
Date:	19/07/09 (117 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The true story of a wonderful cat, Nicely written, Lots of appeal for cat lovers

Disadvantages: Tends to over-anthropomorphisise Dewey and see only the good in him

"Dewey - The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by Vicky Myron
Hodder & Stoughton, 2008
Hardback, 277pp
RRP £14.99, Amazon.co.uk £7.94

Cat lovers rejoice! After years of "Marley & Me" topping the best-seller lists, a new entrant to the pet lit genre has emerged - and this time, the star of the show is feline. "Dewey - The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by Vicky Myron has proved to be so popular that it has reached the number 1 spot in the New York Times bestseller list earlier this year, and is starting to catch on in the UK if my local library's waiting lists for it are anything to go by. This book is hardly one of shocking twists and turns: you can tell from the title exactly what you are going to get (a library, a cat, cute moggy stories, something easy to read and heart-warming) and this has evidently proved to be a winning formula. Mind you, it helps that Dewey had built up a legion of fans (predominantly in the US, but apparently he received fan mail from around the world) before the book was even written, with his story appearing on radio shows, magazines and TV shows worldwide. It seems only fitting that he should have his own bestselling book as well.

Our story starts on a bitterly cold January morning in 1988, when library assistant manager Vicky Myron arrives at work in the small midwestern town of Spencer, Iowa. As she goes about preparing the library for the day ahead, she finds more than she expected in the book drop-box: a small ginger kitten with frostbitten feet who had been shoved in the box during the night and who had somehow managed to survive the freezing temperatures. The kitten "was huddled in the front left corner of the box, its head down, its legs tucked underneath it, tying to appear as small as possible...it was just hoping to be saved", Myron recalls. And saved it was. She rescues the kitten and nurses it back to health, and as each one of the library staff in turn falls in love with him, it becomes clear that keeping him in the library as a communal pet is something they would all like, and she manages to convince the library board to let the cat stay on. But what about the patrons? The little cat is introduced one by one to some of the regular borrowers to see what happens, and it soon becomes clear that despite his earlier ordeal, he loves and trusts people almost unconditionally, and they in turn love having him around - this cat, soon to be officially named Dewey Readmore Books, quickly becomes adopted as the library cat of Spencer and makes the building his home. The library is the perfect place for a cat like Dewey, as he goes about making the town fall in love with him and his antics, before going on to become quite the media darling with his own fans and visitors from out of town who come to Spencer just to meet him.

This is the story of a wonderful animal and the positive impact that animals can have on people's lives. Dewey is a cat with a quite unusual personality, as anyone who has ever owned a cat will quickly realise; while I expect there is a degree of rose-tinted glasses in this book, a cat that behaves in such an consistently outgoing and friendly manner towards people is one unusually well suited to the position of library cat. (Not a unique position, I should add - library cats can be found worldwide, both as pest control agents and as pets intended to make libraries welcoming and inviting to the communities they serve - see http://www.ironfrog.com/catsmap.html). But his book is about more than just Dewey, it is also about the town he made such an impact on, and Myron herself, the nearest thing Dewey had to an owner. When Dewey arrives in town, Iowa is still reeling from the effects of a farming crisis that has seen unemployment soar in the rural area that Spencer serves, and the loss of many family-run farms to large corporations. Myron herself has also experienced many personal hardships and health problems, and is struggling to make ends meet as a single mother recently divorced from an alcoholic husband. It is into this bordering-on-bleak world that Dewey arrives, acting as a source of comfort, pleasure, friendship and laughter for the community. The tales told about him are in turn touching and funny, but as they are interspersed with stories of Spencer and the author's own life, the book has a firm context and is prevented from becoming just a collection of cute cat stories.

The writing throughout the book is of a pretty good standard, and the chapters flow smoothly and easy together to form a coherent whole. I found the reading easy and gentle for the most part, but due to some of the subject matter - such as where Myron describes living with her alcoholic husband - it is not a book suitable for young children, however appealing the cover with its photo of a handsome ginger cat may be**. The snapshots of Dewey that grace the start of each chapter are also a nice touch (none but the cover picture were professionally taken, all other photos were taken by library staff and patrons over the years) and help bring the cat's personality to life. It was a book that I enjoyed reading, but not one I would say I devoured like I have done with other books I enjoyed: it was more a book to dip into in small portions over a couple of weeks for me, rather than one to demolish over the course of a single afternoon. That is not to say it was a bad book, just that it was one you had to be in the mood for something warm and undemanding to enjoy - this is, I suppose, comfort reading.

If the book has any great flaws, it is that Myron has a habit of over-anthropomorphising her furry friend. For example, the gesture Dewey habitually makes when he meets her at the library door each morning is interpreted as him waving in greeting, rather than him pawing at the door in anticipation of her coming in and feeding him. However, I can't complain too much about this trend - it is something all cat owners have doubtless done at one time or another. But in the end, it is the positivie impact that pets can have on our life that comes shining through. Vicki writes: "(In life), the most important thing is to have someone to scoop you up, to hold you tight, and to tell you everything is all right ... For years, I thought I had done that for Dewey. I thought that was my story to tell ... But that's only a sliver of the truth. The real truth is that for all those years, on the hard days, the good days, and all the unremembered days that make up the pages of the real book of our lives, Dewey was holding me."

Recommended.


**For young children, Vicki Myron has now written an illustrated version of this book called "Dewy-There's a cat in the library!", which is due to be released later this year.

Summary: A lovely heart-warming read for anyone who likes cats