Dewey (Dewey Readmore Books, as in full) was not your ordinary cat. Named in honour of the Dewey Decimal System, he was discovered by Vicki Myron, a library director of the Spencer Public Library on a frigid January morning in 1988. Someone had dropped him into the library's returned book slot and let him freezes there, but this cruel act did not stop Dewey from trusting people in future, in fact he let people petted him, squeezed him, fondled him and never showed any signs of biting or getting away. Vicki decided to keep him, and he became the first library cat of Spencer Public Library.

But this is not all about Dewey, there is also story of Spencer, the small town and how the farm crisis of the 1980s affected the residents, and the farmers in particular and how they had rebuild and made things seem right and normal again. Dewey was an inspiration to them all, because he made them believe that a terrible event may turn out to be the best thing that ever happened, just like the way he survived through the bitterly cold night and ended up as the library cat. His confidence, his trust and his sociality charmed most library patrons, both children and adults.

Not only did Dewey bring hope to Spencer, but he also reached out to the people as well when they were feeling a loss of confidence or simply having a bad day. Dewey seemed to be able to know their moods and he would jump into their laps and allow them to pet him. Occasionally, he was being pushed away but rejection never deterred him. Then things started to change; the older patrons who came to the library to flip through magazines or browse for books started to show up more frequently and stayed in the library longer. And their conversations would lead towards Dewey. There was one scenario of a man who looked through the job listings in the library and he was always quiet and unflappable, and whenever Dewey approached him, he would push him away until one day, Dewey was sitting on his lap and the man was smiling for the first time, even though there was sadness in his eyes. This was a fine example how much impact Dewey had made on people. He was always so warming and trusting.

There was a stage where Vicki experienced an emotional distance with her teenaged daughter, Jodi and it was Dewey which brought their relations closer again. There was also a time when Vicki found out there were lumps in her breasts and she needed to have a surgery. Dewey's company made the difference as he would sit on her and snuggled in her arms. Soon news of him began to spread worldwide and the media started to take notice of him.

Alas, old age is slowly creeping on Dewey and he began to show signs of loss of hearing and sickness. The library board directors were concerned about these but Vicki had argued and explained that old cats, or even older people have something to teach everyone, or at least to ourselves if not about the world. In the end, Dewey stayed. It was only towards the end when I read about Dewey's death that set tears to my eyes. His story, his life journey and what he had done to the people had touched me, but that is not all, I was equally moved by Vicki's story as well. A purr-fect and inspiring read which I highly recommend to anyone, cat lover or not.

"As the days turned into weeks and the weeks into months, Marley came to accept Patrick as his new best friend. One night early on, as I was turning off the lights to go to bed, I couldn't find Marley anywhere. Finally I thought to look in the nursery, and there he was stretched out on the floor beside Patrick's crib, the two of them snoring away in stereophonic fraternal bliss.

Marley, our wild crashing bronco was different around Patrick. He seemed to understand that this was a fragile, defenseless little human, and he moved gingerly whenever he was near him, licking his face and ears delicately. He was a gentle giant around Patrick, and he accepted his second-fiddle status with bonhomie and good-natured resignation."