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Book Review: “Double Trouble A thru Z”

"Double Trouble A Thru Z" by Lou Belcher
“Double Trouble A Thru Z” by Lou Belcher

Do we know brothers and the trouble they can get into? And a human who records it in sketches and photographs? No, it’s not our household here at The Creative Cat, it’s Bugsy and Knuckles and their human HH or “Her Highness” who photographs and draws and paints the two busy boys each day.

HH, known to humans as freelance writer and artist Lou Belcher, wrote a book about their antics through the Sunday Funnies and daily cartoons published on her blog Before You Write with Bugsy and Knuckles front and center and their friend Checkers the mouse as the narrator. A mouse? Yes, a mouse!

The "real" Bugsy and Knuckles.
The “real” Bugsy and Knuckles.

Bugsy and Knuckles joined her life in 2013 and are definitely cats of action. Bugsy is a little mellow, Knuckles is a little hyper and generally provides the comic relief, but they go through their days together, following each other around, sleeping in a heap and communicating in the secret telepathic method famous between twins. You know they are “Double Trouble” when two of the “D” cartoons are “Down” and “Don’t”!

Mr. Sunshine hears this a lot too.
Mr. Sunshine hears this a lot too.

She refers to her two adopted cats as “The Boys” and she started to plan a book based on their exploits, then realized she had far more than one book. For the first one she decided to use the whimsical daily cartoons they had inspired.

“Bugsy and Knuckles redirected my artwork and my writing,” she said. “They brought whimsy into my life and therefore needed to have a voice through cartoons.”

Giuseppe studies the art.
Giuseppe studies the art.

When she sat down with The Boys to determine which art to use and how to organize it, she found there were so many sketches they wanted to use. In order to organize them she used the alphabet and chose four sketches with titles that began with each letter, and then also drew each letter with Bugsy and Knuckles interacting. That’s 137 sketches including the front and back covers and incidental sketches in the front of the book. That’s a lot of art in one little book!

Giuseppe finds his letter.
Giuseppe finds his letter.

And it makes for a fun flip through and read more than once to catch all the details in the sketches. Those boys do a lot.

And in their own special way they are supporting the SPCA of North Brevard http://www.spcanorthbrevard.com/ where HH adopted Bugsy and Knuckles.

"And where is our boo?" Giuseppe asks.
“And where is our boo?” Giuseppe asks.

HH, or Lou, has had cats since she attended college, and she’s also written another book, The Zen of Max, about the very special cat preceding Bugsy and Knuckles. She lives in Florida and enjoys spending equal time on her writing and artistic endeavors. Known for painting whimsical cat faces, she also spends an equal amount of time on pen and ink drawings and watercolors. She is part of the Riverview Art Studios and Gallery where she works almost daily. Lou is also the editor of Brevard Art News and Florida Book News and serves the creative community by spreading the word about writing and art events.

You can find Double Trouble A Thru Z on Amazon as well as The Zen of Max. There are links to the Amazon site for both books on her website, Http://www.beforeyouwrite.com.

My boys want to know when they will get their book.
My boys want to know when they will get their book.

. . . . . . .

Book Nook
Book Nook

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From health and welfare to rescue and adoption stories, advocacy and art, factual articles and fictional stories, "The Creative Cat" offers both visual and verbal education and entertainment about cats for people who love cats, pets and animals of all species.

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