#ReadingTheMeow2024: Dewey, the Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World

Mallika of Literary Potpourri invites us to read and discuss books with cats in them this week, and after some unsuccessful attempts to find one — disappointed by books with not enough feline presence or too dull or unpleasant to make me want to finish or share them with you — I came across this charming true-life story.

Dewey was dumped as a kitten in the library book drop in Spencer, Iowa, rescued by the librarians and dubbed the library cat. Over the years he became a beloved presence for many (though not all) town residents, and began to attract attention from national and even worldwide press. By the time he died, he had become a legend, and the library is still visited by those seeking to commune with Dewey — though the library board has since made a no-cat rule, Dewey’s spirit lives on.

What was so special about Dewey? In the account of Vicki Myron, former head librarian and “Dewey’s mom,” he seems to have had an unusual degree of intuition regarding people and their needs. He greeted her every single day as she arrived at the library. She insists that he could tell when she or other people were in emotional trouble and offered them comfort with his playfulness or willingness to be quietly patted. He loved to explore the library, making perilous trips all the way to the ceiling, but was never destructive. In one story his strange behavior turned out to have been a warning about an intruder. He was alert, responsive, and apparently aware that he had an important job to do.

Interwoven with Dewey’s growth into the role of official library cat is the story of a small Iowa town, fallen on hard times in the farm crisis of the 80s, and of Vicki Myron herself, who went through many relational and health challenges. For Vicki and for the town, Dewey often brought a sense of life and hope when things were going downhill. Some reader reviews of the book complain that there was too much of this other information and not enough cat stories, but I disagree. Dewey was a community cat, not just a solitary personality, and it was necessary to fill out the story of his “people.”

Vicki was the most important person in his life, and it was also worthwhile to learn something about her and her struggles, to explain the joy she derived from this special animal friendship. Her writing (assisted by co-author Bret Witter) is not remarkable in a literary sense, but it’s heartfelt and honest and certainly brought Dewey to life for me.

Though he couldn’t read books, Dewey was a “reader” of people. He had a sense of what people needed and appeared happy to deliver it to them, just as people enter a library with many needs that the librarians try to serve as best they can. His curiosity, love of exploration, and alert responsiveness represent what we humans ought to bring into our quest for learning and growth. Surely any library could benefit from having a cat like that, to remind us what we’re there for.

Vicki Myron and Bret Witter, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World (Grand Central 2008)

Also counted for Nonfiction Reader Challenge, Pets category