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

On Fridays, I have my fifth- and sixth-graders together.

This morning we had a very serious discussion. I asked a couple of questions and then listened as they talked. Feline Rescue and Rehome has taken a wonderful 6-month-old kitten from a Missouri rescue group where she was facing euthanasia.

Sabrina, aka SnuggleBunny, is a sealpoint Siamese, chubby and playful, never meeting a stranger. Alex is in the market for an assistant library cat or two. Big Footsie always had several assistants, which allowed him to have some vacation time.

SnuggleBunny sounds like she was made for the job – except for one thing. She is positive for the feline leukemia virus. My students are familiar with that. Several of Big Footsie’s assistants over the years were positive, including Daisy, Valley and Bill Murray. For a kitten born feline leukemia positive, the lifespan will be short, often only 1-3 years.

How would my students feel about that, after losing Big Footsie so recently? We settled down on the beanbags and they told me how they felt.

“Since she was going to die if she stayed in Missouri I think she should stay here and be happy with us,” said Makayla.

Markissha’s feeling was that “I don’t like to see lots of cats die, but I think we should give her a happy life.”

Mary, my secondary work-study student, suggested that we “just love her to death while we have her.”

Each student got a chance to express an opinion.

Several thought that it would be better to bring her only when the older students are here. I agree with that.

Many of my secondary students met SnuggleBunny in the hall before school this morning. She was comfortable with the crowd and even the bells that rang. To a person, their reaction was positive. “Keep bringing her,” more than one told me, as did the teachers who were also crowded around.

I will give everyone time to think about this and to let me know if they change their mind or if they think having SnuggleBunny around will make them too sad.

One of my 5th graders expressed what seems to be the majority opinion. “You should keep bringing her, and we can make her happy and give her as good a life as Big Footsie and Alex.”

Alex just may have his first assistant!

SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

“You are HOT, Alex, really hot!” Just what a handsome library cat likes to hear.

This came from one of the customers at the Cat’s Meow, FuRR’s huge yard sale, this weekend.

Alex was on the job for two days and he was joined by his friend Snuggle Bunny, a 6-month-old Siamese kitten. Together they charmed the crowd.

This was Snuggle Bunny’s first appearance and Alex showed her the ropes.

Alex met a little girl, Ellie, who he really liked, and he cuddled in her arms for a long time. She told him, “I wish we could have a Library Cat like you at our school.” I bet Alex agreed with her that that would be a wonderful idea.

By the second day of the sale, Alex was a little grumpy. He was tired by then, and not only was he sharing the spotlight with Snuggle Bunny but also with a cute, little 3-week-old bottle baby, Chloe.

When he met her, he just didn’t like her a bit.

I reminded him that she was just the age he was when he first came to me, but Alex definitely preferred Ellie over the bottle baby. That was obvious.

Last week, because he was going to have a busy weekend, Alex got a day off his Library Cat job.

It happened to be the day the first graders came for a story. This was the conversation:

“Where is Alex’s bed?”

“I moved it from the desk to my office.”

“Where is Alex?”

“He is home, probably asleep.”

“But this IS his home. His bed is here, so this is Alex’s home.”

That makes perfect sense to me! Arkansas School for the Blind is definitely Alex’s home, even if it is his second home.

After working three straight weekends Alex gets next weekend to rest. I think he wants to renegotiate his Library Cat contract and take out all these weekend gigs!