Dewey: The Small-town Library-cat Who Touched the World [Paperback]

Remember Marley: A Dog Like No Other, a canine greatly loved by his master? Well, here is Dewey, an abandoned orange kitten not only beloved by his mistress but by the entire town of Spencer, Iowa.

Dewey's origins were questionable as was his introduction to library director Vicki Myron. January 18, 1988 was a frigid Monday in Spencer. "It was a killing freeze, the kind that made it almost painful to breathe." When Vicki arrived at the library that morning her assistant told her she had heard a noise coming from a metal slot, the library's after-hours drop box behind the building. Soon, they both heard the noise and thought it was an animal. The opening of the box was only a few inches wide, so whatever it was had to be very small. Being metal the box was even colder than it was outside, and there in a corner of the box was a tiny kitten.

It was the most pitiful thing she had ever seen, so thin she could see every rib, and she could feel its heart beating, its lungs pumping. "The poor kitten was so weak it could barely hold up its head, and it was shaking uncontrollably. It opened its mouth, but the sound which came two seconds later, was weak and ragged." But one look into his big eyes and she was Dewey's and he was hers.

Dewey was not the only one who had endured hardship - Vicki was a single mom who had lost the family farm and survived an abusive husband. The people of Spencer were going through tough times during the farm crisis of that time. Depression, ennui seemed to be everywhere.

Nonetheless, Vicki was determined to capture the interest of those who came to the small library and hopefully make them a little happier. With the help of Dewey she did that and more. For 19 years he returned the affection of the townspeople twofold, amusing them, enchanting them, rubbing against many hands in gratitude for their caresses.

What difference can one small animal make? Dewey's story spread across state lines and even around the world. In 2003 Japanese Public Television filmed Dewey, and his obituary ran in well over 200 newspapers. His story will warm your hearts, make you laugh and cry. Don't miss it.

Highly recommended.

- Gail Cooke

On first reading this book I probably would have given it a 4, maybe a 5. It is a great story of how much good an animal can do, and includes a lot of funny stories about that animal. The `extras' about life in a small town and the life of the author are also interesting. While reading it though I was puzzled as to why a confident, outgoing cat should so take against his vet, and why he was so traumatised by his adventure outside. I also found the author went on a bit about how deep their relationship was, which got tiresome for me.

It was only while looking for clips of Dewey that I found out the fact that's conveniently left out. If you don't believe me, it's stated on the Spencer Library website and elsewhere: Dewey was declawed. For those that don't know, this means that only a short while after his poor frostbitten paws were healed, he was taken to the vet and the first joint of each of his toes was amputated. This was done at the same time as he was neutered. Re-reading this section of the book with this knowledge it is sort of there: before the op the author includes a touching paragraph about his paws, and afterwards he's described hobbling around in pain (male cats who've just been neutered can generally walk just fine). She then goes on to how him hobbling to her shows how strong their bond is...

While it seems Dewey did escape the most horrific side effects (behavioural and physical) that this operation can have, and healed well, it does explain why he should be so terrified of the vet afterwards (declawing is much more painful and traumatic than being neutered) and why he should have found himself so helpless to defend himself when he got out. It also may have contributed to his arthritis in old age.

I don't want to paint Vicki as a monster. It is important to remember that declawing, while illegal in many countries, including the UK, is common in the US. For many owners there it's just what you do and they don't question it. It's estimated 25% of pet cats in the USA have been declawed. No doubt the library board thought it essential to prevent damage to library users. However I do think it should have been talked about in the book. If she still thinks it was right, she should have said so. If not, she should have spoken up and helped prevent it happening to other cats. If it was a case of protecting delicate readers... well, is it right to let some new owner think their cat is going to be staggering about in pain and terrified of the vet for life after neutering? Not an accurate picture of neutering, which, while it is not nice, is of great benefit to the cat itself and generally causes them much less bother. And it's not as if the book doesn't cover other unpleasant subjects, human and animal.

A final note: If you find the video on `Cats of Iowa' (without promoting another website... it's easily available!) you can also see that Dewey's 'waving' at the door is actually clawless scratching. The other cat featured, Tom, can be seen to have his claws, and is also seen safely interacting with people, including riding on their shoulders. Thankfully not all people in the US believe cat's claws are just a liability, and not a vital part of them. I'm just hoping Vicki's new cat, Page, is still in possession of her toe ends.

This rather spoiled my original enjoyment of the book... I was tempted to give it it's first one star review. But Dewey still deserves to be read about. If anything it makes him an even more amazing cat.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

JUST EDITING TO ADD: I have just heard that in the US edition of this book it is mentioned that he was declawed. I'm hoping to find out if there was any actual discussion/opinion or it is just mentioned. Anyway, it seems it wasn't Vicki who chickened out of mentioning it, but the editors of the UK edition.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Crystal was one of the more disabled members of the (special education) group. She was a beautiful girl of about eleven, but she had no speech and very little control of her limbs. She was in a wheelchair, (which) had a wooden tray on the front. When she came into the library, her head was always down and her eyes were staring at that tray ... she didn't move. It was like she wasn't even there ... Then one week Dewey jumped on Crystal's wheelchair tray. Crystal squealed. She had been coming to the library for years ... That squeal was the first sound I ever heard her make ... Dewey started visiting Crystal every week ... Whenever she saw Dewey, Crystal glowed. Her eyes had always been blank. Now they were on fire ... Once her wheelchair was parked, he jumped on her tray, and happiness exploded from within her. She started to squeal, and her smile, you couldn't believe how big and bright it was. Crystal had the best smile in the world ... one day she looked up and made eye contact with me. She was overcome with joy, and she wanted to share the moment with someone, with everyone. This from a girl who for years never lifted her eyes from the floor ... I can't imagine Crystal's life ... But I know that whenever she was in the Spencer Public Library with Dewey, she was happy." - Author Vicki Myron in DEWEY

On the bitterly cold morning of January 18, 1988, the director of the public library in Spencer, Iowa, Vicki Myron, discovered a shivering, terrified, and half-frozen kitten in the library's book drop-off box. On November 29, 2006, Vicki cradled Dewey, who was by then suffering from incurable stomach cancer, as he was euthanized by the local veterinarian. DEWEY tells the story of the intervening nineteen years when Dewey, full name Dewey Readmore Books, was adopted by the library staff, and Vicki in particular, and became the facility's resident cat, loved by the townsfolk and internationally famous.

At first, I was tempted to write that DEWEY is a book for cat lovers. But that would be too narrow a perspective. Rather, this charming and heart-warming - OK, incorrigibly warm and fuzzy - volume is for anyone that recognizes the hold that pets can have on our lives. Mind you, though, I've never heard of a library dog.

If the story of Dewey has any weakness, it's perhaps that Myron goes a bit over the top anthropomorphizing her fuzzy friend. Having been owned by a series of housecats over the decades - Puff, Kitty, Martha, Tessa, Trouble, Amanda, Hidie, et al - I can testify that Dewey was just doing what he did best, i.e. being feline. But he had a special talent for carrying it off with paramount grace and equanimity in the face of so much human attention.

In the end, Vicki states:

"(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."

My calico pal Trouble has now been living with me and my wife for seventeen years. Though she - Trouble, not the wife - suffers from no overt disease, she's getting thin and feeble with age. I don't imagine she'll share our lives longer than a couple more years, if that. I shall miss her terribly when she goes.

P.S. 3/17/09: Several days ago, Trouble was diagnosed with acute renal failure, and the prognosis was bleak. Last night, we had a visiting vet service euthanize her at our home. Holding Trouble as the sedating and killing injections were administered was the hardest thing I've ever done. Today is the first day since she joined us so long ago that I'll come home and she won't be there. I miss my little pal.