Book-loving tabby makes librarians crabby

Cat.

Credit: Chris J Ratcliffe

Credit: Chris J Ratcliffe

Cat.

You’ve heard of bookworms. “The Cat in the Hat” has been a must-read pleasure for millions of children through the years.

So what’s wrong with a bookish tabby?

Apparently, quite a bit.

Max, an orange tabby in St. Paul, Minnesota, has been sneaking into the library at Macalester College, prompting librarians to ban the cat, The Star Tribune reported.

Max is simply unwelcome in the house of books. The librarians posted a sign that announced the feline’s banishment -- a wanted-type poster asking patrons, “Please do not let in the cat.”

Last month, Max was caught on a security camera roaming through the stacks of books. Since the cat was “grounded” by its owner, Connie Lipton, posters on the internet and social media have been sharpening their claws.

One person made Max a library card. An art student drew a comic. And a Twitter user, @relsqui, wrote a Dr. Seuss-like rhyme:

“Please do not let in the cat,”

the sign said. By the door he sat.

His name was Max, I read and learned.

“He’s nice,” but this cat hadn’t earned

the right to come inside and read.

Why could it be? What did he need?

More than 6,000 people began following Lipton's Instagram account (@cool_cat_max_and_gracie) in two days, the Star Tribune reported. Her husband is a professor at Macalester College.

The couple adopted Max from an animal rescue shelter in 2016 and discovered it was a very social animal, prone to roaming around campus.

“I think he was kind of a wanderer,” Lipton said. “That’s probably why he was picked up by animal control.

“Max is very gregarious; he’s a people guy, and I think he just makes people happy,” she said.

Most people. Librarians are still not too thrilled. But Chris Schommer, who works at the Macalester library, created a more sophisticated sign to replace the handwritten poster.

Schommer and Genc Celik plan to write their own children's book about the tabby, the Star Tribune reported. Updates about the book will be posted at letmaxin.com.

“People know Max around campus, and now they know him even better,” Schommer told the newspaper.