SUSAN LOESCH

As our fall semester gets underway I thought it might be fun to tell you how our Library Cat Program got its start. To do that you have to meet Piper, a bobtail orange tabby who has just had his 10th birthday.

Piper came into my life in September, 2000, when he was just 5 weeks old. He had been
found in a drainpipe at a big grocery store; someone heard him crying. He was rescued by Care for Animals, and they asked me to foster him.

Oh, my goodness, did I fall in love with him! The first thing this little ball of fluff did was cuddle up under my chin and nurse on my neck. To this day he still does that, especially when he is nervous.

He began coming to school with me and seemed to enjoy it.

We began to connect our Library Cat Program with the new Accelerated Reader program. Our first “prize books” were called Piper‟s Picks.

Everyone loved to feed Piper chicken, his favorite food, especially baby food chicken.

He enjoyed his first Halloween with the students and at Christmas had his picture taken with Santa for the first time.

He had his favorite kids, most of whom have now graduated from high school. One of
his favorites was Harry, who earned the very first AR reading poster. He posed with
Piper for a sign that said, “Piper and Harry say, ‘Reading is Happy!’ ”

He also accompanied Jasmine to the Art Room where they posed as living models for a drawing class.

In the late spring of 2001, Big Footsie came into our lives, and it was obvious that he had all the traits of a great library cat. In the fall of 2001, both Footsie and Piper came to school, and Piper showed Footsie the ropes. He got the hang of eating treats — and plants
— really fast.

Piper and Footsie led our elementary kids to a fun “Rally Round the Sign” when our
school sign said “Home of Piper and Big Footsie, Only Library Cats In Arkansas.” We all
hiked down to the sign and took lots of pictures.

Not long into the year we had a huge first birthday party for Piper in the library. He had such a good time, but already Footsie was showing signs of taking over. … He opened a
huge bag of cat food which had been a gift to Piper and began to eat it!

As time went by, Piper let us know that he was more of a homebody than a working cat.

The job he really wanted was greeting me when I got home from school and washing my face as he purred a welcome.

Footsie, on the other hand, was more career-oriented, so he moved into the Head Library Cat position, and Piper became our Head Library Cat Emeritus.

Our kids still know Piper and ask for him to visit, so he comes a few times a year. He is always there for our Library Cat Christmas, a whole school party which all the library cat
staff attends.

Piper usually spends that day curled up in my office bathroom sink! He receives visitors there, and everyone knows where to go to see him.

At the end of the party day, most of the library cats are tired and sleepy, but not Piper. He has rested all day and is ready to play when he gets home!

Now Piper spends his days snoozing, hanging out with his buddies and greeting me every
afternoon with heartwarming enthusiasm. He continues to be my “soul-mate kitty.”

Piper wasn’t our Head Library Cat for very long, but he laid the foundation for the whole program. And what a great job he did!

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

Sometimes it is good to sit back and just listen to what my students have to say. Markissha was one of my sixth graders this year, but she and I go back a long way, to when she was a little kindergartner. She is often quiet, but when she speaks she has a lot to say.

It is Markissha who designed the Accelerated Reader t-shirt last year, the one with the caption “Big Footsie says, ‘AR is Purrr-fect!’” And it was Markissha who reminded us all many times this year, when we had one of the new library cats here, “But, remember, we can’t ever replace Big Footsie.”

It is Markissha who is providing our Cats in the Stacks today. Her class created a Middle School Newspaper, and this was her article.

Arkansas School for the Blind Middle School
Newspaper of the Year

The Mixed Up Emotions in the A.S.B. Library
By: Markissha T.

Going to the library at school is always fun but it can be sad. We had three library cats that died. They will be remembered, but can never be replaced.

Those three library cats were named: Big Footsie, Alex and Snuggle Bunny. Big Footsie was the best out of all of them, because of his work with Accelerated Reader.

We have this reading program called, A.R. which stands for Accelerated Reader. It is where you read a book and if you pass it you get points. Within A.R. there is a program called Footsie’s favorites. If a book you pass is a Footsie’s favorite, you get a piece of gum and you also get pictures taken with a library cat.

Footsie became head library because he was Piper’s assistance. Piper didn’t like being a library cat, but Footsie did. He was a very nice cat. He liked baked chicken. He also liked to knock books down. Footsie liked to be petted. He loved to come to school. All Ms. Loesch had to do was say, “Big Footsie time for school,” and he would get in his carriage.

Snuggle Bunny had a very short life. She was very friendly. She had very soft whitish fur.

We thought Alex would be the head library cat for a long time because he had been Footsie’s assistant. He had thick yellow fur. He liked to play. I fed him treats one time. He liked those. It was a shock when he died.

Library cats are very important to our school because the library cats encourage kids to read. They also teach kids how to care for animals and they encourage kids to do well on other things as well as the reading. When we took that big ACTAAP test all the cats were asking of us was to try hard and do our very very best just like they do in A.R.

When we read A.R. books they aren’t always Footsie’s favorites but if they are not you still get credit and we also have A.R. rallies where we find out what everybody’s percentage is and they get prizes.

That’s my favorite of A.R and when we have A.R. rallies it brightens the cats’ days.
I love the cats and that is why I sometimes have mixed up emotions in the A.S.B. library.

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

What a great Library Cat Christmas we had here yesterday! Our first Christmas party with Alex doing the hosting was a big success. Alex, SnuggleBunny and Piper all arrived at school early and put on a holiday collar. They had a tasty crunchy breakfast of Fancy Feast Filet Mignon With Real Seafood and Shrimp and settled down to wait for their company to arrive.

Soon we had most of the elementary students here and some of the older kids. Alex and SnuggleBunny visited with the crowd and seemed to be having a good time. Some of our youngest students came along and were quite taken with Alex’s ears and tail and whiskers. He was so patient letting them explore these things that make a kitty a kitty.

My fifth and sixth graders introduced SnuggleBunny to the younger students. It is still our secret that she will be a regular assistant on the day these older classes come to the library. Brianna introduced her to the group. “This is SnuggleBunny, and she is a friend of Alex and Piper’s,” she told everyone. Makayla was great explaining feline leukemia to everyone and telling them how we decided to help her have a happy life even if it is short. It was obvious that these girls were speaking from the heart.

“SnuggleBunny is a Chinese cat, isn’t she?”  “No, she is a Siamese cat,” I told the third graders.

But somehow a Chinese cat is what this group has decided she is. “Look, there’s a Chinese cat here,” one of them soon told a new guest. Luckily, SnuggleBunny seems to be ok with that.

As the day wore on presents came pouring in.  Our speech teacher brought Alex a gift wrapped in a furry material that matched his real fur. He got a wand with a feather toy on it and a catnip-filled donkey. Some of his friends from FuRR came by to say hello and one brought him a whole gift bag full of toys and treats.  Another brought cans and cans of food; this was way better than Christmas for the library cats!

The party began to wind down and so did the cats. Alex seemed happy to just be carried around. SnuggleBunny’s eyes began to droop. By the time the party was over both of them were in Alex’s bed on the front desk, sound asleep.

The only kitty stirring was Piper, who had made several short visits to the party – maybe 3 seconds each!  He’d slept in the sink during most of the party and now was full of energy – just in time to go home.

SUSAN LOESCH
CATS IN THE STACKS

The holidays are officially here! How do I know? Saturday was Photos with Santa time for the library cats!

Every year, starting when our original library cat, Piper, was just 4 months old, we’ve headed to CARE for Animals to have Santa pictures made.

Piper and Big Footsie were both CARE rescues who happily ended up with me, and this is our holiday tradition, repeated this year for the 10th time.

There are lots of laughs connected with our annual jaunts.

One year Footsie had his ears back, no doubt annoyed at his assistants’ behavior.

Then there was the photo that looked like Valley was singing Christmas carols, when actually he was protesting with all the lung-power he could muster.

Alex was looking away as if he were about to die of embarrassment.

In last year’s photo, Footsie posed like the pro he was while Alex and Piper carried on a conversation!

This year, I told Alex, he would have to be much more serious; after all he is now the Head Library Cat!

Alex and Piper posed calmly but neither would look at the camera.

I stood behind the photographer trying to get their attention, and someone else was waving a cat toy to tempt them to look our way. I don’t think the photographer ever did get a shot with Alex and Piper looking her way, but that’s OK.

Part of the fun is the poses that aren’t perfect. I always enlarge the photo to poster size for the kids at school and I know they will love it no matter what!

Later Saturday evening, Alex donned Footsie’s green coat again to act as a greeter at FuRR’s benefit at the Afterthought. Once again he was the center of attention. I think he is enjoying all his gigs as Head Library Cat.