Katie, Aubie and Lily (Lilbeth) are very special cats in North Augusta.
So when mother and daughter Nancy Scott and Anne Danielson met the three cats, the duo decided to make them as main characters in their new book.
“We met the Bengal cats and we fell in love with them, so we had to write a story,” Scott said.
“The Bengal Brigade” is a new children’s book by Scott and Danielson which tells about the three cats who live in North Augusta and their various adventures.
The pair wrote the book together while Danielson did the illustrations.
In the book the three cats venture outside after their father, who is a leopard, told them no. But in the end, the cats show bravery and confidence.
The book was published in September and it was the second book they published in 2024. The pair published “The Sharing Sheep” in January 2024 which was about how children and adults learn the importance of sharing.
“We kind of didn’t want the journey to end there,” Danielson said.
Scott and Danielson’s journey in writing and publishing began during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. The first book is about a group of sheep that decided to share.
“We wanted to write a story that would brighten the lives of the reader,” Scott said. “That is where the sharing sheep came.”
The second book took about six months to complete, such as looking for a way of publishing the book. They decided to self-publish their new book so it wouldn’t take too long.
Scott and Danielson said all their books are in verse or the words rhyme. The pair said they came up with a lot of ideas and decided to write them down when they want to write a book.
Scott is a retired teacher who taught 25 years in Virginia before coming to North Augusta to be closer to Danielson, who worked as a chemical engineer.
“I never thought I would be anything other than an engineer,” Danielson said.
She said she thought she would be an engineer for a long time, but having children changed the course. So becoming an publish author with her mom was something she could do.
Scott said each book has a different inspiration.
Three cats
Scott said the three Bengal cats are owned by a North Augusta couple, Bob and Anne Lorenz. Bob built a dollhouse for Anne.
“These are real cats, a real story and real dollhouse,” Scott said.
Scott said the three cats are indoor cats, but in the book the cats sneak outside during the night for their adventures. Scott said the cats weren’t the only animals used as inspiration in the book. Danielson’s dog, which is actually a sweet Aussiedoodle in real life, was used as a scary dog in the book.
Aubie is the the most adventurous cat, Katie Mae is the beautiful and elegant one, who is also adventurous, and Lily who is kind of more afraid to go out and has to be convinced to come out and say hi.
Scott said when she and her daughter would go visit the cats, Aubie would always be the first to come out and would see Katie Mae, but Lily was too shy.
Scott and Danielson have a third book called “The Lucky Ladybug” in which the ladybug discovers that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. The pair also has a new book called “The Empathetic Eel,” which will be published in the spring.
Danielson said the long-term goal is to have a class to teach people to self-publish a book because they have gotten a lot of response from the community.
“I never imagined that we would be doing this and it’s growing,” she said.
Danielson and Scott said they want to write more and want to pass it on to their children and grandchildren. Danielson said one of her older children is already interested in helping to write and design the book.
The mother and daughter said if there is an opportunity for loved ones to write a book together they would encourage it.
“We would encourage any mother and daughter to write together,” Scott said.
“The Bengal Brigade” is available for purchase online at amazon.com.
This post was originally published on here
