Monday, January 5, 2009

Review of Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World


I can't remember how I found out about this book...maybe a Borders email? Anyway, as a big fan of cats and libraries, I had to read it, and it was one of the books I finished over the Christmas holidays.

Dewey is the story of the director of a library in a small town in Iowa, and how she found an abandoned kitten in the library drop box one morning after a very cold night (his little feet were frost-bitten) and decided to adopt him as the library's cat. The cat was dubbed Dewey Readmore Books, which I loved. The book chronicles Dewey's life as well as the life of the town and of the author. Some of it is very poignant--the author goes through a long struggle with various illnesses and family troubles--and some of it is funny, and a lot of it is not that well-written. I would recommend this one for cat lovers only!

As Mr. T and I say (speaking from our own personal experience of living with two cats), "cat people are weird". As word gets out about the library cat, folks come from all over the country to visit him...and eventually, all over the world, including a documentary film team from Japan! Dewey lived to the ripe old age of 19 and, as the title states, touched many lives in a positive way. When I read the end, although of course I knew he couldn't live forever, I got a little teary.

My conclusion? Cats are awesome. This book is pretty good. If you like cats and books, you might like this one.

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