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

wrote:


I just put a hold on this book at my library. I also put holds on two
other cat books, "The Power of Purrs", about rescuing and fostering
stray cats, and "A Cat Named Squeeky", another stray cat story (with
an adorable painting of the main character on the cover). I guess I'll
be reading a lot about cats in coming months!


Speaking of cat books, did you ever receive the one I sent you?

--
Marina, Miranda and Caliban.
In loving memory of Frank and Nikki.

Marina wrote:

Speaking of cat books, did you ever receive the one I sent you?

Yes I did! Please see the email I sent you in response.

Marina is talking about the children's book, The Cat from Kosovo. She
sent it to me a few months ago, I received it, and kept forgetting to
let her know I got it. Except, of course, when I was nowhere near a
computer! :-/

It's about a Bosnian couple who are forced to flee when Serbian
police order all Bosnians out of the city. The couple have a cat
who they had taken in as a stray, and they refuse to leave her behind.
It's a true story, and there's a photo of the real cat on the cover.

If someone else would like to read this book, please let me know
and I'll send it to you.

And while I'm at it, I can also pass on the book "Cat Stories". I've
read most of the stories, and many of them are quite good. It's edited
by Roger Caras, head of the SPCA, I believe. The stories aren't all
necessarily *about* cats, but a cat figures prominently in each one.
They're very well-written stories by acknowledged writers, in several
different genres. I definitely recommend it. I believe that Ann from
Connecticut is next to receive it. So Ann, if you still would like me
to send you this book, please email me your address and I'll send it
on its way.

And thanks again Marina, for lighting a fire under my butt.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)

"Gandalf"
On Sat, 3 Jan 2009 14:45:14 -0800, "Kyla =^..^="
wrote:

I'm glad you're enjoying the book I need to get a copy for myself.
Did your Mother's gift ever arrive?
Love
Kyla

Yes; with overnight shipping, it showed up on Dec 24th.

Good to hear and I bet she loved it Big Grin
Give sweet Kenzie a lovey scritch from her Auntie Kyla
Hug
Kyla

"Gandalf"
I received a copy of this book for Christmas, from my wonderful elderly
mother.

I doubt if I own more than 3 or 4 hard cover books that aren't
textbooks, or technical manuals.

On the dust cover is a very extraordinary photograph of the famous
Dewey.

He is a long hair orange tabby, with a bit of white around his mouth,
and on his neck.

He looks out of the photograph *directly* into your eyes, his head
slightly tilted ever so slightly to one side. He has the amber eyes that
some orange tabbies have. The kind that you can just get lost in.

Somebody dumps the yet to be named kitten in the book return box on a
day in January when the temperature was -15F. That's -26C, for those
using the metric system. It's really, really, really cold.

I have spent time outdoors when it's been -15F, (and much colder). It
can only be described as brutally, dangerously cold. Where I live, we
will get temperatures this cold many times every winter. With the
warmest and most expensive cold weather clothing I can afford, I can
only stay outdoors for a few hours, before my hands, and especially my
feet, start to get dangerously cold. Frostbite, which means frozen skin,
muscles, tendons and blood vessels, soon follows. The blood leaves the
extremities, to keep the internal organs warm. The extremities freeze.
Then the temperature in the core of the body begins to drop. The
chemical reactions that occur every second, that supply energy and
nutrients to every cell in the body, slow down. Eventually, they slow to
the point where life can no longer be sustained.

Whoever dumped poor Dewey in that drop box was condemning him to a
virtually certain, cruel death.

But, he didn't freeze to death, of course.

And thus began the incredible story of how Dewey came to live in the
library in the small farming community of Spencer, Iowa.

The book is as much about life in the small Iowa farming community, as
it is about this marvelous cat that became such an important part of it.
Some chapters hardly mention Dewey at all, as the book weaves the
complex story of the background of Spencer, Iowa, and the people who
live there.

The librarian, Vicki Myron, grew up on a farm outside of Spencer. She
had a very difficult life: a bad marriage, followed by single
motherhood. Opportunities were few, and difficult for her.

The book was especially interesting to me. I grew up about 100 miles
north of Iowa. I know many of the cities in Iowa; I've been in, or at
least driven through most of them. I dated a woman who grew up on a
small farm in Iowa, for a long time. Vicki graduated from Mankato State
University, In Minnesota. My older brother went there.

Southern and western Minnesota is almost exactly like Iowa: mile after
mile of corn. The land isn't as flat, but from the top of a small rise,
all you can see is farmland. Mostly the corn that Iowa is so famous for.
And every 20 or 30 miles, there is a small town. Farming communities
just like Spencer, Iowa.

Where Dewey lived. In the library.

It is a truly wonderful book.

Those of you who live overseas, or even in different parts of the USA,
won't find it as familiar as I did. But the book is so well written,
with so much detail and character development, you will find yourself
immersed in the culture of Spencer, Iowa, just as much as I was.

And, although I have said a lot about Spencer, Iowa; the book IS really
about the most wonderful cat you could ever possibly imagine.

This is without a doubt one of the very best books I have read for a
very, very long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ^..^

"Life without cats would be only marginally worth living."
-TC, and the unmercifully, relentlessly, sweet calico kitty, Kenzie.

Every day is a treasure with Kenzie; I try to treat them that way. There
will only be so many, and then there will never, ever, be any more.

How you behave towards cats here below determines your status in Heaven.
- Robert Heinlein

On 2009-01-03 23:14:24 -0600, GaDragonfly said:

On Jan 3, 7:36*pm, Candace wrote:
On Jan 3, 7:57*am, Mishi wrote:

The author has a new kitten, an orange and white bitty who was found in
the middle of the road by Sue Selzer. More on her discovery can be read
hehttp://www.usatoday.com/life/books/n...ewey-new-cat_N
.htm

Adorable baby!

Mishi

That's a kitten?!? I wonder how large a cat she's going to be?
Julie

Gorgeous. All FUR!

bastXXXette...
Marina frankiennikki
Speaking of cat books, did you ever receive the one I sent you?

Yes I did! Please see the email I sent you in response.

Marina is talking about the children's book, The Cat from Kosovo. She
sent it to me a few months ago, I received it, and kept forgetting to
let her know I got it. Except, of course, when I was nowhere near a
computer! :-/

It's about a Bosnian couple who are forced to flee when Serbian
police order all Bosnians out of the city. The couple have a cat
who they had taken in as a stray, and they refuse to leave her behind.
It's a true story, and there's a photo of the real cat on the cover.

If someone else would like to read this book, please let me know
and I'll send it to you.

Well, if nobody else has 'dibbs' on it yet, I would love to read it, and
then pass it along to another cat lover who would like to read it. I
understand 'book mailing rates' are pretty minimal..
I'm re-reading Catlore by Desmond Morris,, who also wrote Ca****ching and
contains facts about cats that are fascinating.
I could send it to you if you'd like when I'm finished with it. I've not
read it in years,
and am learning some really fun facts about cats, like meezers are always
born white, for instance.

And I've also got another book, to be read soon, a trilogy by Cleveland
Amory, with the picture of Snowball, his real cat that inspired The Cat Who
Came for Christmas. The second book in this thick book is The Cat and The
Curmudgeon, same kitty, and the final in the trilogy, The Best Cat In The
World...a real tear jerker.
Has anyone read any of these books?
Hug
Kyla

And while I'm at it, I can also pass on the book "Cat Stories". I've
read most of the stories, and many of them are quite good. It's edited
by Roger Caras, head of the SPCA, I believe. The stories aren't all
necessarily *about* cats, but a cat figures prominently in each one.
They're very well-written stories by acknowledged writers, in several
different genres. I definitely recommend it. I believe that Ann from
Connecticut is next to receive it. So Ann, if you still would like me
to send you this book, please email me your address and I'll send it
on its way.



And thanks again Marina, for lighting a fire under my butt.

--
Joyce ^..^

(To email me, remove the X's from my user name.)