Vicki Myron

Traces the author's discovery of a half-frozen kitten in the drop-box of her small-community Iowa library and the feline's development into an affable library mascot whose intuitive nature prompted hundreds of abiding friendships, in a tale told against a backdrop of the town's struggles with the 1980s farm crisis.

The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Dewey

Sarah Sammis

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World is a biography of a well-lived library cat and a memoir of the librarian who cared for him. Even if you haven't read the book you're probably aware of the start of Dewey's career; he was dumped down the book return slot in the middle of winter as an eight week old kitten. Except for a brief time when he explored the outside of the library and got lost, Dewey spent the bulk of his almost twenty year life living in the Spencer Public Library.

Along with Dewey's biography, Vicki Myron includes a history of Spencer as it suffered through the collapse of the American family run farm in the mid 1980s. As families were losing their farms and homes and businesses were closing the residents of Spencer needed a morale boost. Dewey Readmore Books as he was dubbed by the town was just the pick up they needed.

There is a lot of padding in the book in the form of Myron's own memoir of her failed marriage, raising her child and other dramatic points in her life. These moments should be the glue that holds the events in Spencer to the events in Dewey's life, they didn't work for me. They disrupted the flow of the biography and I ended up skimming or skipping through them.

Most of my local BookCrossing friends had already read Dewey but the time my mother gave me a copy. The one comment I had heard from all of them was: "the ending is so sad!" The book covers Dewey's entire life from the moment he first arrives at the library until the very end of his life. A two decade life, though, for a cat is a remarkable one. The ending isn't what I would call sad; it's truthful.

In case you're wondering, that's really Dewey on the cover. He looks very different in the black and white snapshots peppered throughout the book. The cover was done by a professional and Dewey was a bit of a ham for the camera.

Briar's Reviews

Cats
Books.
Libraries.
Kind souls who adopt cats.

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron is a heart warming book and is the best book I've read in a long time.

Let's be real: The world is full of negativity these days. How to cure it? Pick up a book as heartwarming and lovely as Vicki Myron's Dewey. This orange library cat will cure all of the hatred in your soul for crappy and garbage people. Vicki and her library staff taking in a fluffy, little, frostbitten fur ball is incredible, but then seeing the good he put into the world... That really made my heart sing.

Is it a literary masterpiece? No. I doubt people are going to pick apart themes and act like this is the new 1984. But it is a positive story that will make you feel good inside. I needed this book so desperately in my life, and it's honestly one of my new favourites.

Five out of five stars.

Stefanie Sugia

For me, this book is quite easy to read,
not a book with lots of conflict (since it's only about a cat).
The story is basically about Dewey, the library cat, who was found in the drop box in a cold winter night. When Vicki took him, Dewey has become part of the Spencer Library. 
Vicki told the story how Dewey touched so many people's live in the small town of Spencer. It's somehow heart-warming how a cat can understand how people feel, and has the desire to comfort them.
I think Vicki wrote this book as a way to remember Dewey, and let other people know how important Dewey is for the people in Spencer. 
This book is enjoyable, and it has been a joy to know Dewey through this remarkable story. :)

Ivayla Stefanova

There was something wrong. I wanted a story of Dewey, but I found Vicki Myron's. If the book was entirely about that orange kitten, I'd gave it 4.5 ☆
Love you, Dewey! Hope you are in a better place now♡

Amber Laha

I loved the moments that she talked directly about Dewey; I loved him and he was the sweetest thing. But the way she talked about the town and the people got way too much. It was so full of cheese that I gagged. The thing about it though, is that you could tell there were many issues there, but she wouldn't speak directly about them. It was like she was, "Weeeell, there was this or that, BUT LOOK AT HOW DEWEY DID THIS OR THAT FOR THEM!" It got annoying.

How much of an impact can an animal have? How many lives can one cat touch? How is it possible for an abandoned kitten to transform a small library, save a classic American town, and eventually become famous around the world? You can't even begin to answer those questions until you hear the charming story of Dewey Readmore Books, the beloved library cat of Spencer, Iowa. Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. Only a few weeks old, on the coldest night of the year, he was stuffed into the returned book slot at the Spencer Public Library. He was found the next morning by library director Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband. Dewey won her heart, and the hearts of the staff, by pulling himself up and hobbling on frostbitten feet to nudge each of them in a gesture of thanks and love. For the next nineteen years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with his enthusiasm, warmth, humility (for a cat), and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most. As his fame grew from town to town, then state to state, and finally, amazingly, worldwide, Dewey became more than just a friend; he became a source of pride for an extraordinary Heartland farming town pulling its way slowly back from the greatest crisis in its long history.

Rachel

A book about a library cat??? YES PLEASE! But Dewey is actually more than that. Vicki talks about the history of Spencer, Iowa and her own struggles in her life and how Dewey is just what she and the town needed. Really enjoyed reading this book and it went deeper than what I expected!

Experience the uplifting, "unforgettable" New York Times bestseller about an abandoned kitten named Dewey, whose life in a library won over a farming town and the world -- with over 2 million copies sold! (Booklist) Dewey's story starts in the worst possible way. On the coldest night of the year in Spencer, Iowa, at only a few weeks old--a critical age for kittens--he was stuffed into the return book slot of the Spencer Public Library. He was found the next morning by library director Vicki Myron, a single mother who had survived the loss of her family farm, a breast cancer scare, and an alcoholic husband. Dewey won her heart, and the hearts of the staff, by pulling himself up and hobbling on frostbitten feet to nudge each of them in a gesture of thanks and love. For the next nineteen years, he never stopped charming the people of Spencer with his enthusiasm, warmth, humility (for a cat), and, above all, his sixth sense about who needed him most. As his fame grew from town to town, then state to state and finally, amazingly, worldwide, Dewey became more than just a friend; he became a source of pride for an extraordinary Heartland farming community slowly working its way back from the greatest crisis in its long history.

Dewey The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

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