This is a sweet confection about a librarian who finds a nearly frozen eight week old kitten in the bottom of their book return bin one frigid winter morn. The ladies adopt him and he finds a permanent home within the walls of their library delighting employees and patrons alike. The book is as much about the author and her small town, and the tough times its residences are facing with big time agri-farming moving in and putting the little guys out of business in the ‘80’s. Dewey helps soothe the depressed town folk with his loving nature, both the adults desperate to rebuild their lives and children whose parents seem to use the library for free daycare while they work two jobs to stay afloat. Dewey also helps the author through some very difficult times.
That said, the Dewey parts weren’t overly interesting or hysterically funny to me. I have cats, I love them, even the one possessed by a demon who tries to scratch my face off if he’s in a “mood” and I get too close. Dewey was a lovely kitty, no doubt about it, but his stories though sweet and cute were not all that interesting to read about. I’ve witnessed most of Dewey’s antics, especially the telepathic thing, with my own pets. I swear they can read our minds. Except for my Labrador. He’s a bit of lunkhead. I don’t know, maybe it was just the way the author had of telling the story that I didn’t enjoy. The telling wasn’t as emotional to me as I think it could have been. Maybe I no longer have a heart? Yeah, that’s probably it.
Still, reading this book makes me want to open a used book store and populate it with a few homeless kitties. I’m not sorry I read it at all but I guess after all of the hype I was expecting something a bit more exceptional than what I found between the pages.
