Title: Dewey’s Nine Lives
Author: Vicky Myron with Brett Witter
ISBN: 978-0525-95186-5
Story Length: 320 pages
Genre: Pet Stories

Description of Dewey’s Nine Lives

Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World was a blockbuster bestseller and a publishing phenomenon. It has sold nearly a million copies, spawned three children’s books, and will be the basis for an upcoming movie. No doubt about it, Dewey has created a community. Dewey touched readers everywhere, who realized that no matter how difficult their lives might seem, or how ordinary their talents, they can-and should-make a positive difference to those around them. Now, Dewey is back, with even more heartwarming moments and life lessons to share.

Dewey’s Nine Lives offers nine funny, inspiring, and heartwarming stories about cats–all told from the perspective of “Dewey’s Mom,” librarian Vicki Myron. The amazing felines in this book include Dewey, of course, whose further never-before-told adventures are shared, and several others who Vicki found out about when their owners reached out to her. Vicki learned, through extensive interviews and story sharing, what made these cats special, and how they fit into Dewey’s community of perseverance and love. From a divorced mother in Alaska who saved a drowning kitten on Christmas Eve to a troubled Vietnam veteran whose heart was opened by his long relationship with a rescued cat, these Dewey-style stories will inspire readers to laugh, cry, care, and, most importantly, believe in the magic of animals to touch individual lives.

–From Amazon.com

Three Quick Points About Dewey’s Nine Lives

• Point 1: Some overlap. I purchased the first book so did expect some overlap in the recounting of Dewey’s related stories, but it’s hardly noticeable. It just gives the book an air of familiarity.
• Point 2: Immensely readable The prose style is casual, much like a friend telling you a story.
• Point 3: Surprisingly heart-rending. I expected to smile, perhaps giggle, while reading, but I never expected to cry (at least, not as much as I did).

Short Synopsis of Dewey’s Nine Lives

A compilation of nine stories recounting how some very special cats (Dewey included) entered into and changed the lives of their owners.

The stories include: Dewey and Tobi; Mr. Sir Bob Kittens (aka Ninja, aka Mr. Pumpkin Pants); Spooky; Tabitha, Boogie, Gail, BJ, Chimilee, Kit, Miss Gray, Maira, Midnight, Blackie, Honey Bunny, Chazzi, Candi, Nikki, Easy, Buffy, Prissy, Taffy…and more; Christmas Cat; Cookie; Marshmallow; Church Cat; Dewey and Rusty.

My Thoughts on Dewey’s Nine Lives

I won’t lie, I’m a cat person. It’s why I purchased (read and loved) “Dewey: The Small Town Library Cat Who Touched the World” and jumped at the opportunity to read “Dewey’s Nine Lives”.

While I prefer the original Dewey book, I still enjoyed reading these individual stories. But, to be frank, I couldn’t read them all back to back.

The writing style was casual and easy to digest, quite like a friend retelling a story, although sometimes it became flat, like a reporter recounting the straight facts.

No, it wasn’t the writing that kept me from reading the stories one after another. It was their heart-rending natures. Going in I expected to smile and giggle at all of the kitty antics—and I did—but I didn’t expect to cry as much as I did either.

Right off, in the first story, Dewey’s passing hangs heavy. And maybe I’m oversensitive because as my kitty ages, I think about her inevitable passing (I pray well into the future). But even as depressing as some of the stories were, they contained a measure of hope and even some wisdom.

It’s also worth mentioning that if you’re looking for a book filled with Dewey stories, this isn’t it. While Dewey plays a role, larger in some stories than others, they are mainly stories about other small town folks who’ve had their lives changed by a cat.

This book is best suited to cat lovers or people who enjoy sentimentality, but I’d caution you against reading it if you have an aging cat or have recently lost one; some of the stories might push you over the edge, especially Tobi’s and Cookie’s.

Rating: Worth every penny (?)

The book was sitting there, too close to me, calling out to me and those big kitty eyes on the front cover begged me to crack the spine and just read a little. How was I to resist? Well, I couldn’t. And a little bit turned into about six chapters. Quite frankly, those first six chapters were enough to get me to shelf my book of the moment so I can finish reading Dewey. I probably would have finished it last night if I didn’t actually need to sleep.

While reading, I could completely empathize with one character in particular who didn’t warm up to Dewey right away–not everyone is born a cat person–but after a bit of persistence, Dewey became his new lap buddy. It reminded me of the story of my own little fur ball (who I nicknamed Fuzzy Butt). Ever since the one-eyed cat incident of my youth, I had not been a cat person. Cat’s frightened me, with their sharp claws and fangs. But, one day, a friend brought me a tiny bundle of gray fur who had been hiding, frightened and hungry, in the bushes and that changed everything. I suddenly found myself a cat person. (Or, at least, a one cat person.)

(Yes, that’s my little Fuzzy Butt and yes, she’s underneath the comforter like she owns the bed.)

Dewey’s story of survival is heart-tugging and gut-wrenching, but his antics are laugh out loud funny. Plenty of credit needs to be given to Myron because the flow of the book is very smooth which makes it an incredibly smooth and easy read. She makes the lessons that Dewey instills in everyone who meets him easy to understand without speaking down to the reader. Definitely looking forward to finishing this one and that will most likely happen tonight.

By the way, Dewey Readmore Books has a Facebook page.