Cat-alog Cat: Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library by Vicki Myron and Brett Witter

Every night people left books in return box of library in the small town of Spencer, Iowa. Funny books, big books, truck books, pig books.--they left them all.

But one night
on the coldest night of the year
someone left a strange surprise...
a tiny kitten.

After a warming bath, the dirty, brown, half-frozen kitten emerges with beautiful fluffy orange fur and a heartwarming purr.

"I'm going to keep you," said Librarian Vicki. "I already love you.

We'll name you Dewey Readmore Books. You can live here and be the library cat."

But Dewey is just a kitten, and kittens really only know how to play. He catnaps on the newspapers in the periodical collection, rides the book cart while the clerks shelve the day's returns, and pushes any pens he can find off tables and desks. He climbs and rummages in open drawers and tries to escape from little boys who rub his fur the wrong way. He delights the story hour circle with a visit, and even lets babies touch his tender ears. It is all just great fun for a curious kitten.

But then Dewey has a moment of truth.

"The library is a wonderful place," Dewey said. "But I'm tired of being pulled and carried around upside down. I'm not just a cat in the library. I am a library cat, and I'm ninety-two percent convinced that that is the reason I'm around.

I'm going to do it," said Dewey. "I'm going to help people."

And then one day he discovers his true powers. Dewey has just crammed himself sleepily into a tiny box, his favorite napping place, when he hears a sound that wakes him right back up.

He heard a heavy sigh.

He saw a little girl, a sad little girl, on the other side of the library, reading all by herself.

He climbed up close and looked at her. She looked the other way. He sniffed her hand. She wouldn't play. He knocked her mittens to the floor. She let them stay.

Then Dewey had his best idea yet. "Silly always works!" he thought.

Dewey wiggles inside the little girl's purple jacket and sticks his head out of the sleeve. The little girl can't help giggling.

"You look like a fuzzy hot dog in a purple bun! I love you, Dewey Readmore Books."

"This is it," Dewey thought, as he nestled into her lap and began to purr. "I'm a real library cat now."

Author Vicki Myron has cut the opening chapters of her best-selling Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World down to picture-book size for the youngest readers, and her just-published Dewey: There's a Cat in the Library!, illustrated glowingly with Steve James' endearingly realistic art, is a wonderful introduction to this unforgettable real-life character. Although her best-selling memoir was aimed at adults, children who have seen this newest book will enjoy short readings from the longer book and will doubtless look forward to the next in the picture-book exploits of this world-famous feline.

Cat-alog II: The Cats of the Club of Mysteries Series

Cats are caterwauling for equal time with those canine characters (see previous post), so here's an installment on the CAT-alog series on worthy felines of fiction.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor, having written three books about one dog, (Shiloh), more than meets the equal-time challenge with four books about two cat characters, beginning with The Grand Escape. In this first book of the Cat Pack series, Marco and Polo are half-grown indoor kitties with a sense of adventure. Being able to read the newspapers lining his litter pan, Marco describes the wonders of the outside world, and his more impulsive brother Polo finally persuades him to escape into the world beyond their cozy home. The intrepid two discover the tempting treats of the Burger King trash bins and meet the lovely fem feline Carlotta and "The King, The Boss, The Cat Supreme" in the form of Texas Jake, the top tom of the free cats' league who call themselves the Club of Mysteries. In order to become members, Marco and Polo are required to perform three folkloric tasks, testing their kitty mettle against all the traditional enemies of cats. This they do with feline elan, earning membership in the Club and the privilege of being "indoor/outdoor" cats from their owners, the Neals.

Naylor follows up with three humorous and satisfying sequels, The Healing of Texas Jake, Carlotta's Kittens, and the latest, Polo's Mother, in which Polo's search for his warm, fuzzy mom of memory concludes when he finds her in Geraldine, a tough little queenie with a heart of gold who cheerfully joins her offspring in another of Texas Jake's quests. How Marco, Polo, and Geraldine find what's atop a steeple, why cats purr, and what happens to the fridge light when the door is shut is a fun and fitting ending to this absolutely delightful series.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is a capable and versatile writer for children who takes on the wars between girls and boys, cats and dogs, and even girls coming of age with equal skill and sensitivity. It would be a cat-astrophe for kids to miss the fun and fur-raising adventures of the Cat Pack series.