Read-alikes for Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World
by Vicki Myron

These titles are available at the Sioux City Public Library. Themes include family relationships, bonding with animals, and a sense of community. Cat stories, both fictional and factual, and movie tie-ins, are also provided.

Animal-Human Relationships
All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (921 Herri,J Her). Stories of a Yorkshire vet. Find All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God Made Them All, James Herriot's Cat Stories, James Herriot's Dog Stories, James Herriot's Favorite Dog Stories and other titles by searching the catalog under author browse.

Tell Me Where it Hurts: A Day of Humor, Healing, and Hope in My Life as an Animal Surgeon by Nick Trout (Large Print 636.089 Tro)

If Only They Could Speak: Stories About Pets and Their People by Nicholas H. Dodman (636.7 Dod).

Animals as Teachers and Healers: True Stories and Reflections by Susan Chernak McElroy (155.9 Ani). A collection of stories showing the benefits animals can offer us.

Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul: Stories about Pets as Teachers, Healers, Heroes, and Friends by Jack Canfield (636 Chi).

The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy - and Why They Matter by Marc Bekoff (591.5 Bek).

Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson (591.5 Gra). An exploration of the world of animal thought and how it compares with typical and autistic human thought.

The Cat Who Came for Christmas by Cleveland Amory (818.5407 Amo). A year in the life of Polar Bear, the stray white cat adopted by an animal activist. Sequels include The Cat and the Curmudgeon and The Best Cat Ever.

The Cat Who Went to Paris by Peter Gethers (818.5403 Get). The memoirs of a writer and his cat as they travel the country and globe.

Cats of Thistle Hill by Roger A. Caras (636.8 Car). The lives of ten-plus cats at the author's' family farm.
What My Cat has Taught Me About Life: Meditations for Cat Lovers by Niki Anderson (158 And).

Dog Years: A Memoir by Mark Doty (811.54 Dot). The dog he adopts as a companion for his dying partner becomes a joy during the dark days.

The Dogs Who Found Me: What I've Learned from Pets Who Were Left Behind by Ken Foster (Audio CD 636.7 Fos).Foster writes of the dogs he has adopted and how they affected his views on life.

Faithful Friends (636.7 Fai). Dogs and their interaction with mankind through history and literature.

From Baghdad, with Love: A Marine, the War, and a Dog Named Lava by Jay Kopelman (956.7044 Kop). Amidst the turmoil and struggle of the war in Iraq, a Marine falls in love with a puppy, which he decides to save, against orders.

Good Dog, Stay by Anna Quindlen (636.737 Qui). The author reflects on her life with a black Labrador and on the lessons she's learned watching him.

Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote (636.7 Ker). Describes how the author adopted a stray dog and how they became partners.

Rescuing Sprite: A Dog Lover's Story of Joy and Anguish by Mark R. Levin (636.7092 Lev). A radio talk-show host describes his family's relationship with a remarkable rescue dog named Sprite.

Shaggy Muses: The Dogs Who Inspired Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Edith Wharton, and Emily Brontë by Maureen B. Adams (820.9 Ada). Five mini-biographies reveal the powerful bond each writer had with her dog.

Shelter Dogs by Peg Kehret (636.7 Keh). Amazing stories of adopted strays.

A Three Dog Life by Abigail Thomas (813.54 Tho). After an accident leaves her husband brain damaged, a wife struggles to rebuild her life with three dogs and the comfort of friends.

Alex & Me by Irene M. Pepperberg (636.6865 Pep). How a scientist and a parrot discovered a hidden world of animal intelligence-and formed a deep bond in the process.

A Buffalo in the House: The True Story of a Man, an Animal, and the American West by Richard Dean Rosen (978.956 Ros). Two Santa Fe animal lovers adopt an orphaned bison that returns their friendship with unexpected loyalty.

Chosen by a Horse: A Memoir by Susan Richards (636.1 Ric). A woman with wounds from a difficult past finds the ability to heal while caring for an abused horse.

The Good Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood by Sy Montgomery (On Order). Adopting the runt of the litter sparks a relationship between a pig, a family and a community.

Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant that Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer (791.32 Hel). The story ofModoc, the boy who loved him, and their life together.

The Parrot Who Thought She Was A Dog by Nancy Ellis-Bell (New 636.6 Ell). Peg Leg, a one-legged rescued parrot, wreaks havoc in the household.

Seabiscuit: An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand (798.4 Hil). A story of horseracing, the spirited animal that became a cultural icon and the people who tended him.

Songs of the Gorilla Nation: My Journey through Autism by Dawn Prince-Hughes (616.8982 Pri). An autistic woman recounts her connection with the gorillas at the Seattle Zoo and how they aided in her connecting with humans.

Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O'Brien (598.97 OBr). Sheds light on the world of animal emotions and the powerful bond forged between animals and humans.

Zamba: The True Story of the Greatest Lion that Ever Lived by Ralph Helfer (599.757 Hel). A Hollywood animal trainer adopts an African lion cub to train for a life in the circus.

Mother-Daughter Relationships
And Sometimes Why by Rebecca Johnson (New Fiction Joh). When Sophia and Darius say good-bye to their teenage daughters one unremarkable morning, they have no idea how permanently the family will be affected by a decision made around the breakfast table.

Comeback: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Through Hell and Back by Claire Fontaine (306.874 Fon). A memoir describing the life of a teenage runaway, her mother's journey into the drug world to rescue her, and the daughter's struggle back to normalcy.

Every Last Cuckoo: A Novel by Kate Maloy (Fiction Mal). A 75-year old widow finds new meaning for life when her home becomes a sanctuary for a variety of lost souls.

The Fiction Class by Susan Breen (New Fiction Bre). A 38-year-old writing teacher finds balance and inspiration in her difficult mother.

The Glass Castle: A Memoir by Jeannette Walls (362.292 Wal). The child of an alcoholic father and an eccentric artist mother discusses her family's nomadic upbringing.

Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (New Fiction Str). The life of a retired schoolteacher in a Maine coastal town is revealed in a series of luminous stories.

Paula by Isabel Allende (920 All). A story written next to her daughter's hospital bedside reflects the challenges and achievements of one family during a turbulent time in Chilean history.

Things I Want My Daughters to Know by Elizabeth Noble (New Fiction Nob). Four daughters struggle through the first year without their mother, aided by her letters and a journal.

Small Town Life
Blooming: A Small-town Girlhood by Susan Allen Toth (977.7 Tot). A memoir of life in 1950s Ames, Iowa.

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing Up Small in Mooreland Indiana by Haven Kimmel (921 Kimme,H Kim). A grown-up Zippy recounts her childhood in 1960s Indiana.

If You Lived Here, I'd Know Your Name: News from Small-town Alaska by Heather Lende (979.8 Len). The local Obituary and Social Columnist of tiny Haines, Alaska, shares stories of her small town.

Little Heathens: Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression by Mildred Armstrong Kalish (Local History 977.761 Kal).

My Dog Skip by Willie Morris (921 Morri,W Mor). A boy and his dog grow up together in small-town America during World War II.

Population: 485, Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry (977.544 Per). Perry recounts his years as a volunteer firefighter in New Auburn, Wisconsin.

Storyville, USA by Dale Peterson (917.3 Pet). The author and his two children travel to small towns with quirky names and interesting people.

Way Off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small-town America by Bill Geist (973.92 Gei). An assortment of offbeat observances and eccentricities of life in small town America.

Cats of Mystery
Cat on the Edge by Shirley Rousseau Murphy (Mystery Mur). The first in a fun mystery series featuring a pair of cats who discover that they can read, speak, and solve crimes.

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lillian Braun (Mystery Bra). In the town of Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere, newspaperman Jim Qwilleran and his two Siamese cats discover they have a flair for mysteries. The first of many great stories to come!

Catnip by Carole Nelson Douglas (Mystery Dou). Meet Midnight Louie, a black cat with an attitude, living in Las Vegas and helping his human companion, Temple Barr, solve mysteries in the city of lights.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder by Joanne Fluke (Mystery Flu). Minnesota cookie shop owner Hannah Swenson and her cat Mosishe bake up some small town murders in this mystery series complete with great recipes.

What the Cat Dragged In by Gilbert Morris (Mystery Mor). White Sands, Alabama is the setting for this cozy rags-to-riches mystery starring cats Cleo and Jacques the Ripper.

Wish You Were Here by Rita Mae Brown (Mystery Bro). The first of several southern mysteries starring Mary Minor Haristeen, her two sleuthing cats and her corgi.

Libraries & Librarians in Fiction
The Camel Bookmobile by Masha Hamilton (Fiction Ham). Establishing a bookmobile in a Kenyan village, Fiona inadvertently renews a decades-old tribal feud involving a camel-powered bookmobile.

The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sansom (Mystery San). Israel Armstrong, bookmobile attendant, must find the roving library's 15,000 missing books.

I'm Your Girl by J. J. Murray (Fiction Mur). A quick-witted public library clerk provides inspiration to Jack Browning, a novelist haunted by personal tragedy.

Mr. Dixon Disappears: A Mobile Library Mystery by Ian Sansom (Mystery San). Jewish bookmobile librarian Israel Armstrong investigates the disappearances of a magician and a large sum of money.

Murder by the Book by D.R. Meredith (Large Print Mer). When librarian Megan Clark keeps stumbling upon dead bodies, she becomes the number one murder suspect. Series includes Murder Past Due, Murder in Volume and Tome of Death.

People of the Book: A Novel by Geraldine Brooks (New Fiction Bro). An Australian rare-book expert is called to restore the famous Hebrew codex.

The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett (New Fiction Ben). Obliged to borrow a book when her corgis stray into a mobile library, the Queen discovers a passion for reading.

Movie Tie-Ins
All Creatures Great & Small by James Herriot, series 1-4 (DVDs 921 Herri,J Her). The stories of a Yorkshire veterinarian.

Cats (DVDs 782.14 Cat). A musical based on Old Possum's book of practical cats by T.S. Eliot with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Cats: Caressing the Tiger (Videocassettes 636.8 Cat). This National Geographic program explores the complex relationship between cats and humans and provides insight into cat behavior, which is never far removed from that of their cousins in the wild.

Shiloh (Children's DVDs Shi). A boy hides a dog from its abusive owner while earning money to buy it, based on the novel by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.

For Children
The Christmas Day Kitten by James Herriot (Juvenile Fiction Her). The true story of how an independent-minded stray cat gives a woman and her three Basset hounds a Christmas present.

Moses the Kitten by James Herriot (Juvenile Fiction Her). A bedraggled orphaned kitten is nursed back to health on a Yorkshire farm, and when he recovers turns out to have a very unusual idea of who his mother is.

James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot (Juvenile Fiction Her). A collection of animal stories including "Moses the Kitten," "The Market Square Dog," and "Smudge, the Little Lost Lamb."