March 21, 2025 • 35 mins
This week on Cattitude, Michelle Fern welcomes back bestselling author Allia Zobel Nolan to talk about her delightful new children’s book, Why Can’t My Brother Be More Like My Cat? With charming illustrations by New York Times bestselling artist Lee Wildish, the book hilariously explores sibling rivalries through the eyes of a little girl who adores her cat but can’t quite figure out her mischievous brother. Join us as Allia shares the inspiration behind the book, the heartwarming (and humorous!) lessons it teaches, and why both kids and adults will smile every time they open its pages.
EPISODE NOTES: Why Can’t My Brother Be More Like My Cat?
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EPISODE NOTES: Why Can’t My Brother Be More Like My Cat?
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cattitude-the-1-cat-podcast--6666768/support.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Live.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Let's Talk Pets. This episode of Catitude is brought to
you by me Algreens. Get a free Jumpstart trial bag
for your cat today. Go to meowgreens dot com and
use promo code Catitude.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Hello Blaine, friends, Welcome to Cataitude. I'm your show host,
Michelle Burn. Today we have one of my guests returning
and she's a favorite. I'm so glad she's here, and
we're going to talk about a wonderful book about cats
and brothers children's book. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:38):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome Aliyah Sobel Nolan.
She is an esteemed author. She's written many, many, many books,
and she's been uncatatued before. Aleah, welcome back. I'm so
excited to have you back on Cataitude and.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I am excited to be here. This is wonderful. It's
a redo, a redo too. Yes, I guess it was
two years ago that I was on your show and
I loved it. And by the way, I just love
the theme a song. I just absolutely love that.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
That's my producer. He's so talented.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
It's like, you know, I'm sitting here and I'm going
dude the dude. You know. It's just very catchy and
I love it.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
He's written every song for all of our shows except
for Victoria Schaeffer because Paul Shaffer is her father and
he wanted to write hers. But he does such a
good job with that. But I talk about you, okay,
we're getting talk about your book in a second. In
a little bit. What type of books have you written,
because you've written a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, you know, I started out by writing. I've always
written humor and I've written feature stories. That's how I
got into it. I was a feature story writer for
local newspapers and I did about ten articles for the
New York Times, but opinions a section, but really very
fun and numerous types of things. And they say that
(03:16):
you should write what you know best. And I've always
had cats, and they are so funny and they do
such really crazy things that I started jotting them down
and you know, one liners or whatever. I didn't think
it would go very far, and my editor actually said, oh,
cats are are fad, you know, or this this will
(03:38):
be gone like next next year. You know, he should
know never, he should only know. But that's how I
started out by writing things. I used to observe my
cats and what they would do, and how they would act,
and how they would be, their personalities, the different types
(03:58):
of personality. One would be a snuggle bunny and the
other one would give you the side eye, and the
other one wouldn't even you know, acknowledge you. But they're
just so quirky and you never know what's going to
happen with them. So I started diving things down and
I've written i'd say, thirteen cat books for adults, and
(04:21):
I also write Bible books, and I write devotionals and
humor books for picture books for children, but I've never
written a children's book about cats, which is like, so ridiculous.
So the last book I did was Heavenly Headbuts, and
it was about cats in heaven. And this book, I
(04:41):
wanted it to be light and sweet and fun and
be something that children would really appreciate. So I decided,
this is.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Your first children's buck about cats.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yes, my very first book. After thirteen books about cats,
this is my first cat kids book.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Wow, kids, bog and tell us about your cats.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
My cats? Which one is sitting here and she won't
get out of my way? I'm you know, ago, this
is Colleen Fiona Shannon Nolan. Now she's got all these
names because I couldn't make up my mind which one,
so I named her all of them. And she's a
sheltered cat and she's very quiet and demure and the
(05:26):
only time that she ever gets rampunctions is around one
o'clock at night when she gets what she gets the
midnight crazies. Last night, I was like, I'm gonna have
to put this car outside my room. Uh, but yeah,
I'm used to it. I take naps in the afternoon
because you know, all night long, throughout the night, she's
you know, she's she's jumping on my head. She's, you know,
(05:50):
telling me to look at the ghosts that she's shaking.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
They do that, right, they except I'm fortunate because when
the cat's usually jumping me out, it's my husband's side,
so he gets all the attention. They leave me alone.
So yeah, so it's I don't know, I don't know.
Maybe maybe because he gives him more treats. I don't know,
I don't know what it is. And then what about
(06:13):
your other cats?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now, my other cat is hysterical. He is Bubba. His
name is Nolan Nolan. Now. The reason he has the
double name is because when I went to the shelter,
I wanted a black cat because black cats don't get
adopted very often, and I always have a black cat,
so but I didn't want a baby. I didn't want
a kitten because I'm in the middle of writing a
(06:37):
book and you know, you have to keep taps on
them and see that they're not killing themselves. So I'm
on my way out because I didn't see any and
I just happened to look over and there was this
little ball of black fluff, couldn't have been more than
six months old, and I'm like, no, no, walk away, least. Yeah,
(06:58):
But but meanwhile, what's the cat's name? Oh, my gosh,
that's his time. Well, my husband says, they must have
seen you come in and switched theme and put Nolan
on there. So of course I had to get him.
And I called my husband to come and see the cat,
and he said, well, you're gonna get it anyway, so
just bring the cat home. I said it might be
(07:19):
a relative Nolan. So he's Nolan Nolan.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
He is.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
She Colleen is about eight pounds. Nolan Nolan's about twenty
one pounds. He is a bubba and he is very
smart cat. He stands up on his hind legs, puts
his two paws on the cabinet door and walks backwards
so that he opens the cabinet because that's where the
(07:45):
food is. So I had to get a child locked
because one day I came home and all the cabinets
were opening and I thought we got raw. It's like
it was like it was him, he was looking for
the food. But he he's he's a sweetheart. He's more
active than she is. You know, she's she's naps all
day long. He's, you know, looking into things and swatting
(08:08):
things off. The counter and you know, getting into trouble,
but I love them.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Has Nolan ever swiped anything open, Like if you had
a bag of kibble or chips or something on the
counter that he just sliced it.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, what he does is he learned how to open
the cabinets and then you know, I said, well, he
can't get at the food because it's it's you know,
it's not open. But we do have some open food
and we put it in a tupperware container. Well, wouldn't
you know he learned to open the tupperware yet, like
(08:40):
the wet food. The pet sitter said, I came in
and I didn't believe. What he also does is, you
know a lot of cats want to give you gifts,
you know with their outdoor cats that want to give
you you know a snake or you know a gopher. Well,
since they're indoor cats, he picks up clothes. So if
I leave, you know, like my bra around or I leave,
(09:03):
you know, a pair of my jeans, he puts them
in his mouth and he walks down the steps with them,
me outing. You know, I don't know what that is.
It's like crazy, but I can't leave any Yeah, he's
he's uh, he's something. I tell you, he's got a
personality plus but it's fun, you know, because you never
(09:24):
know where.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, and you have such a sparkling personality. So I
think it's a good match.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh yeah, yeah. So many times I get annoyed with
him because you don't need to watch, you don't need
a clock, you don't need your phone. He can tell
you what time it is because the you know, the
crack of three o'clock. He has to eat and he
will sit at the bottom of the stairs going now,
you know, and so you know, and people say, well,
(09:51):
you shouldn't give in to him, you should let him
me out, but it drives me crazy. So I feed him.
You know, he has to have his food, and I
have to close the door to where he eats his
food because he will then finish his food and run
upstairs to get her food. You know, he's like a
crazy cat when it comes to food, but very loving.
(10:13):
You know, he's a loving animal. He's he's got a
lot of personality. He's always good.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Okay, so let's talk about you've written for books for children,
for adults, for tweens. Is there any particular age group
that you have a preference.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
For well, you know, I do like to do my
adult humor because there are so many people who are
into cats now so they understand what I'm talking about.
Because initially people used to look at me like, oh,
you're gonna make earrings out of your cat hair. Oh
you've got cat hero all over you. You know, they
didn't understand about what goes along with owning cats. You know,
(10:56):
so now people are like they stand you know, now
they get it. Yeah, they get it exactly. You're right,
they get it. You know, if you come to you
can get all dressed up and the cot will jump
on you when you get hair all over. You know,
you cannot get rid of every single bit of hair
that you have on you.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
You know, So I think with your when you're a
pet parent, you dress for your pets, for your fur babes,
if you can like more dark clothed and like. And
I thought I was the only one until I found out,
know what's a thing Like some people, if they have
a white cat, will wear a lot of white clothing
or light colored clothing.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
And you know, as far as keeping a house that
is picked to perfectly, forget about it. You know, you know,
I bought a new couch that has like a chase.
So I thought, if my husband, you know, wants to
nap or something while he's watching TV, you know, he
can stretch his legs out. Well, who's who is now
using that? But we adopted just recently a dog from
(11:58):
one of the rescues. She was a puppy mill dog,
poor thing, and she but guess what we named her? What?
Nolan Nolan? No, we named her miss kitty. Miss kitty.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
That's better. That's much more creative than that. Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, what we did was, you know, my husband is
used to uh calling the cats here kitty, here, here, kitty,
kitty and all of that, and so he did that
with the dog. He started. So we said, that's great,
we'll call her miss kitty. This is what everybody's kitty,
and we don't have to think about easy.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Yeah, you know, it's kind of said that when you
have cats. What is the saying it's their house? You're
just uh, how does that go?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, Well, it's it's sort of like they own the
house and you're just there to to be served pretty
much for the for the food and cleaning up the
kitty litter and you know, fluffing the pillows, and when
I go away, I have a list of like four
pages of the pet for what the pet sitter should do,
(13:02):
and that Colleen gets stuff and such amount of food
on a China dish, the small china dish, and she
gets it heated in the microwave for one minute. You know,
all these instructions like three pages.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
You're not unique or unusual doing that that, I say
is kind of norm versus just putting.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
It in the ball.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And that said, and I've had my dogs are on
doggy Heaven now, so I just have a cat crew.
But you know, for my dogs, I didn't get that fancy.
But for the cats, yeah, you kind of do. I
don't know why. It's like you need to. I mean
it might nine of them refresh the eaters.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I think they demand it because you know, this is
what and we spoil them because when I first got Colleen,
she wouldn't eat anything, right, but then she kind of
liked only the fish, so she wouldn't eat them. You know,
if I put out meat wet food, she wouldn't eat it, Okay,
chicken wet food. So then I started just giving her
(14:07):
that and then she would eat a little bit. But
I noticed that if I put.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It, if it was too cold, she know, if it's
too cold, they don't want it. If it's too hot,
they don't want it. If they're not in the mood
for salmon, but they want, you know, some other kind
of fish.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But we give in to them because you know, I
think to myself, oh my god, she's not eating you know,
she'll waste the way, you know. Whereas the dogs, you know,
they gobble everything. They don't care what it is, you know,
so they're not as fussy as cats are. But I
think we sort of encourage that, or you know, we
(14:44):
let them get away with it, because I a couple
of times I came up with like six different kinds
of cat food, you know, to see if she would
eat one of them. And then the funny part about
that is she'll eat it, and you'll get all excited.
You'll say, oh, isn't it wonderful. We found the cat
food that she likes, and you go out and you
buy you know, four cases of it, give it to
(15:05):
her the next day and she tries to bury it. Oh,
she doesn't like it anymore.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
That's cats, that's cats, Okay, We're going to take a
short break and we'll be back and we'll talk about
your book Why can't my brother be More Like My Cat?
We'll be right back. Hey, guys, Michelle Furne here, is
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Speaker 1 (16:34):
Let's talk past.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Let's done that at.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Life Radio, Headline Radio, Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Welcome back everyone. We're talking to Aliyah Zoebel Nolan. She
is the author of Why Can't My Brother Be More
Like My Cat? And this is a children's book and
it's the first one, first children's book you wrote with
the cat. So first of all, I have to ask
about the type of cat. It's the Ostasians are gorgeous,
thereby Lee Wildish and they're just stunning. They're so adorable.
(17:15):
Why a great cat? Is it a certain typers it
just a great cat?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Well, here's the thing. This man is a New York
Times best selling illustrator. And I wasn't sure I would
be able to get him because he's always busy, and
you know, he doesn't know me from Adam. I self
published this book, so you know, for me to just
write him a note saying I want to, you know,
would you do this for me? I didn't think. I
(17:41):
took a chance, which is what I encourage people to do,
take a risk, because you know they can always say no.
And he was in between books and he said he
would love to do it. And I almost fell off
the chair because I was so excited. So I left
it to him. What he did is there are three
characters in this book, the brother, the cat, and the
(18:02):
little girl. Now I fell in love with the look
of the little girl. She's got red hair that is puffy,
and she has these big glasses. And his interpretation of
these characters is just off the charts. Cute.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Wait, let me ask you. So you just said, lead,
this is the bug, go for it.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Well, this I gave him an I worked directly with him,
rather than working through a publisher and an art director
and you know, the marketing department. It was just me
and him and I wrote it. But what's called an
art brief, and that is you tell the artist what
you want to see on every page. Now, you don't
tell them down to the last you know, eyeglass or
(18:41):
the color of the cat. So I left it to him,
and he showed me the three characters that were going
to be in the book ahead of time, rather than
you know, finish all the drawings, and I say, well,
I hate the way that looks, and I love the cat.
I didn't tell him what, you know, unless you have
a really really big preference, like if you if I
(19:02):
wanted a black cat, or I wanted a you know,
some kind of tabby or whatever. But I think also
because the girl has this shocking red hair, that maybe
he stayed away from, you know, a ginger cat or
a black cat because it would be too much of
a contrast. The gray just works out, you know. The
(19:23):
cat personality comes through this cat. And I left it
to him because you know, I've seen his work and
I knew he would do a great job, so I
left it to him.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
I think the cat's adorable. I think all the characters
are adorable. Why did you introduce a cat between a
brother and a sister?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, exactly. Now, simple rivalry has been around since Cain
and Abel, okay, and and and Cat. And every time
I go into a store and you see the brothers,
you know, got a face and the little sister is
you know, trying to get or crying or whatever, and
I thought, you know, this would I actually went back
(20:03):
to my original books for that. I do for adults
and I saw that I had one hundred and one
reasons why a cat is better than a man, another
one hundred and one reasons why a cat is better
than a man. Why is a cat still better than
a man? So I thought, there's a theme going on here,
and if I can adapt that to a children's book,
(20:27):
I think I might have found my theme. So instead
of having the brother and the sister be exclusively in
this rivalry, I said, I think that I want to
put a cat in there, and put a cat in
the mix, and not have a brother against sister, but
comparing the cat against the brother, And that seemed to
(20:50):
really work out well. So that's what I did. I
think it's great. I didn't have a brother, so I
couldn't really take from my childhood. But I did have
a sister who was very a little nutsy in that
once she put a what do you call it? A
(21:11):
lobster in my bed, She put a lobster in my
dad and I went into the bed. Oh, you know.
She did like things like what the brother is doing
in the book. So I called that information from my childhood.
And my sister also, she used to be a nutcase
(21:31):
as far as fresh air and in the middle of
like a night like tonight, when it's like, you know,
minus eight degrees, she would have all the windows open
and tell me, oh, it's good for your health. You
know you should we should have the windows open, and
I would be freezing. And another thing she did, she
was teaching me how to dance, and she was twirling
(21:52):
me around and the floor that we were dancing on
was like linoleum. So she twirled me around and let
me go. I was I was flying across the room.
So those are things. Those are things that I can
imagine are on part with what the sister and the
brother would go through.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
I have two brothers, and I think perfectly yes, perfectly correct.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And then you know, I wanted kids also to take away.
You know, kids are always looking towards the you know,
their animals, my dog, my cat, and cats are wonderful
in they're they're just the best. But when things bush
comes to shove and you need someone to help you
with a bully or help you with math, your your
(22:38):
brother's there to help you, and most of them will
be very happy to come to your aid. There's a
saying that I think Kenny Rogers said, friends come and
go but family is forever.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
For better or worse. Family is forever better or for worse.
And you know, even in the Bible, there's a I
looked it up. There's a phrase I re remember. There's
a scripture that says a friend loves at all times,
but a brother is born for adversity. And that's like,
this is what this book is all about. You know
about how the brother comes to the We're not going
(23:13):
to tell how, but the brother comes to the to
the sister's age, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It's a nice thing.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
You finished all your children's books rhyme.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
No, But and here's the thing. Rhyming is very difficult.
Everybody thinks that they can do rhyme, but there's a
certain beat to it, and there's a certain I am
the pentameter. There's all these AA B B and this
that and the other. And if you're looking to publish
with a traditional publisher, they are very strict about it.
(23:47):
But rhyme sticks in a child's mind better than regular text.
I have a friend who had a granddaughter who memorized
one of my books because it's sing song and she
even though she couldn't read, she memorized it.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
That makes total sense, I mean one of the most
well known book authors.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Doctor. It's difficult, but rhyming. If you do it well,
kids can remember it and they can sort of, you know,
go along with it, or or keep a couple of parents,
keep a couple of sentences in their head. I like
to for this age. The book is. The book is
really for everybody, all ages, but the book is targeted
(24:32):
towards from three to seven, and that age they really
do like rhyme. But I'll tell you one thing. I
once did a conference with kids and I asked them
what do you like better in a book? The words
or the pictures? And of course you know what they said,
not the word pictures. So you know, so kids really
(24:54):
you know the visual at that age.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
So do you hope that by you know, us as
cat pet parents, because most of my audience are not
probably not children, but I do have some children listeners
out there and tweens, And do you hope that by
introducing books and talking to them about books, it will
help them to, you know, become readers in their adults.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Oh? I hope.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
So reading is We could talk for hours about why
reading is important. We both shared a little before the
show about how much we love reading. I've been an
avid reader my entire life, probably why I'm near sighted,
but but I cannot imagine not being able to read.
And I know unfortunate because some people unfortunately have challenges
(25:43):
with it. But I think reading is the best thing ever.
Do you think us as cat parents, because mostly of
us are a little older, by starting children with you know,
getting them engaged at a young age, that will influence
them as adults to be you know, become readers.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Well so, And I think so. I did another conference
about why picture books are so important because it's not
just the language, uh and the and you know, teaching
them new words, but they're also getting a look at
different you know, cultures, and they're getting something that they
(26:22):
wouldn't they they wouldn't normally see at their preschool or whatever.
It takes them into different lands and different types of things.
And you know, there's an exercise that I do sometimes
with children, and I don't put the words in and
I let them look at the pictures and then they
use their imagination to make up the story. And this
(26:45):
is so important for their just for their whole being,
that they're able to use their imagination, you know, to to.
You know, what do you see in this book? Is
that little girl? What is she doing? And you know,
it opens them up to not be afraid to see
(27:05):
or say what they see. That's number one. It gives
them language opportunities to learn new languages, new cultures, new
ways of doing things, and it broadens them, you know,
because when a kid goes into preschool, they've never hear
they've probably never seen other kids that don't look that
(27:26):
aren't a mirror image of them. So it's good to
get them. So it's not a shock. It's like what,
you know, I've never seen a person with a you know,
like a headband on or something like that. So these
types of picture books expand the child's imagination and their
world really and let me tell you, I couldn't live
(27:48):
without a book. My mother in law, God versus soul
used to take books in her purse and anytime she
was like online or you know, online at a grocery store,
she whip out the book. And you know, books are
your carpet to other worlds. I mean, I can't I
(28:09):
can't stress enough that children should be introduced and you
should try that with the kids. What do you see
on this page. What do you think that you know
the girl is doing and why is she doing that?
And blah blah blah. You know, get them involved, you know,
in the book. It's not just reading to them, it's
(28:30):
getting them involved in the book. That's engaged. That's the
word I'm looking for. So that they will, you know,
they'll want they'll want to read another book about you know,
about cats, or or you know, introduce them to show
them a book or an encyclopedia of all the different
kinds of cats. It's not just you know, your your
(28:50):
rescue cat. Look at this cat is the sphinx. He
doesn't have any hair.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Aliah, I'm thinking of your next book Cats different cats. Yeah,
like stinks, no hair, this one it has little little ears.
A lot of people aren't aware that cats don't just
look like you know, the standard cat as well a
lot of people, but kids really don't, right.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I did an article for a kid's magazine that talked
about introduced them to all the different kinds of cats
and also show cats you know, uh, the Persian cats
and the sphinx cats and the you know. I find
it fascinating that sometimes there are new cats or cats
that i'd never you know, I don't know about And
(29:35):
it's fascinating when you go to these cat shows and
walk up and down the aisle and you see all
the end they're so patient, the cats are being groomed
and they're just sitting there like, okay, do your bed
and make me look. It's amazing. They're for me. They're
wonderful creatures. Now, I just we just got this dog
(29:58):
and I never had a dog, and I'm learning that, Well,
this dog is exceptional because she doesn't bark, and she
doesn't she's not in your face, I swear, well, because
she was in this bucking mill. You know. I don't
think he was ever in the house, so she had
to get used to, you know, walking up and down
the steps and she you know so. But I'm I
(30:21):
must say, I'm I'm understanding now why people are so
nuts about dogs too.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Even though we're all about cats on atitude, a lot
of people have dogs and cats. And I know that
our listening audience knows. Dennis was my first cat, which
is good because he's part main coon and they're the
dog of cats.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Oh gosh, I love that.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Yes, for me, the reason it was good is because
I grew up with dogs and it was always about dogs,
so I had to learn. However, getting Molly and Charlotte
taught me about cats. And as we talked about earlier,
you're so right. They all have their own quirky you know,
habits and reacts and personalities. It's just they're just amazing creatures,
(31:04):
which is why we love them. Where can people find
your book?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Well, this new book and most of my books are
on Amazon, but this latest book, why Can't My Brother
Be More Like My Cat? You can get it anywhere.
It's at Warnes and Noble, It's at frifty Books or whatever.
It's anywhere. If you go online and you can pick
your favorite bookstore. And if they don't have it, they
can get it because I have extended distribution this time,
(31:33):
so anybody can get it.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Also, where can people find out more about you? I
know you have a great website?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Well, I have a website. It's very simple. It's w
w W Aaliyah Wrights a l l I A and
the word Rights dot com correct Aliah Wrights dot com,
yeah dot com, yeah yeah, And it has mostly all
of my books. I try to keep it up to date.
It's oh, this book one Zippy a War won an
(32:00):
award already. I'm so excited.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Uh oh, congratulations coming award. It's called there's a publisher
called Zibby Zibby Owens, and she's very big in publishing.
But she had a terrible thing happened. She lives in
New York and she lives in California, and she was gonna.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Have an award. We were gonna go there and it
was gonna be a whole big thing, but her house
almost caught on fire because she was in La. Her
house was in La, so obviously she had a you know, cancel.
But we just got our little certificates. So you know
that in fifty cents gets you on the subway. But
but it's nice.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Well it's still an honor, you know.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
It was especially this This book isn't out very long,
but I think, you know, it's a fun book. My
last book was about cats in heaven, and by right,
it was a little sad. So this book is all
such fun. And every time I look at it, I
just love the little girl and the cat and the brother.
(33:01):
It's just I love it. It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
It's a wonderful book.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
One last thing this summer. I have a book called
Finding Harmony, The Kitten Who Taught Friends' Kindness, and that
will be.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Come okay, and maybe you can come back on Catitude.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh that would be nice.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
I would love to have you. Aliah, thank you so
much for coming on Catitude and telling us all about
your cats and about your book Why Can't My Brother
Be More Like My Cat?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Thank you. I appreciate your support.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
You're so welcome. I hope you all enjoyed this show.
I love having Aleiah on. She's so sparkling. That's the
word for her. She has such an effervescent personality and
it comes across in her books. Please check out Aleah
Wrights dot com. There will also be the link on
the page Petline Video dot com go to Catitude, go
(33:52):
to this show and there'll be a link to her site.
I want to thank my cat crew that let me
read them the book because I don't have any little
ones at my house, so I write it to my cats.
Why Can't My Brother Be More Like My Cat? By
Aleiah Zobel Nolan. So thank you, Mollie, Charlotte and Dennis,
and of course thank you to everyone listening the Caatitude.
(34:14):
I appreciate your listenership so much. Thank you so much.
I'd also want to thank my producer, Mark Winter. This
show would not be the same without him working as magic.
Thank you Mark for all you do, and thank you
for the music that you write for well. My Catitude
song is amazing, but thank you for all the ones
you do. And thank you again Patitude listeners, and hey
(34:37):
remember lose the attitude and have Catitude.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlifradio
dot com.
Live.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
This is pet Life Radio.
Speaker 3 (00:04):
Let's Talk Pets. This episode of Catitude is brought to
you by me Algreens. Get a free Jumpstart trial bag
for your cat today. Go to meowgreens dot com and
use promo code Catitude.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Hello Blaine, friends, Welcome to Cataitude. I'm your show host,
Michelle Burn. Today we have one of my guests returning
and she's a favorite. I'm so glad she's here, and
we're going to talk about a wonderful book about cats
and brothers children's book. So stay tuned. We'll be right back.
Speaker 3 (01:01):
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Speaker 1 (01:38):
Let's talk pets on Petlife Radio dot com.
Speaker 4 (01:52):
Welcome back everyone. I'd like to welcome Aliyah Sobel Nolan.
She is an esteemed author. She's written many, many, many books,
and she's been uncatatued before. Aleah, welcome back. I'm so
excited to have you back on Cataitude and.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
I am excited to be here. This is wonderful. It's
a redo, a redo too. Yes, I guess it was
two years ago that I was on your show and
I loved it. And by the way, I just love
the theme a song. I just absolutely love that.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
That's my producer. He's so talented.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
It's like, you know, I'm sitting here and I'm going
dude the dude. You know. It's just very catchy and
I love it.
Speaker 4 (02:33):
He's written every song for all of our shows except
for Victoria Schaeffer because Paul Shaffer is her father and
he wanted to write hers. But he does such a
good job with that. But I talk about you, okay,
we're getting talk about your book in a second. In
a little bit. What type of books have you written,
because you've written a lot.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
Well, you know, I started out by writing. I've always
written humor and I've written feature stories. That's how I
got into it. I was a feature story writer for
local newspapers and I did about ten articles for the
New York Times, but opinions a section, but really very
fun and numerous types of things. And they say that
(03:16):
you should write what you know best. And I've always
had cats, and they are so funny and they do
such really crazy things that I started jotting them down
and you know, one liners or whatever. I didn't think
it would go very far, and my editor actually said, oh,
cats are are fad, you know, or this this will
(03:38):
be gone like next next year. You know, he should
know never, he should only know. But that's how I
started out by writing things. I used to observe my
cats and what they would do, and how they would act,
and how they would be, their personalities, the different types
(03:58):
of personality. One would be a snuggle bunny and the
other one would give you the side eye, and the
other one wouldn't even you know, acknowledge you. But they're
just so quirky and you never know what's going to
happen with them. So I started diving things down and
I've written i'd say, thirteen cat books for adults, and
(04:21):
I also write Bible books, and I write devotionals and
humor books for picture books for children, but I've never
written a children's book about cats, which is like, so ridiculous.
So the last book I did was Heavenly Headbuts, and
it was about cats in heaven. And this book, I
(04:41):
wanted it to be light and sweet and fun and
be something that children would really appreciate. So I decided,
this is.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
Your first children's buck about cats.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Yes, my very first book. After thirteen books about cats,
this is my first cat kids book.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Wow, kids, bog and tell us about your cats.
Speaker 2 (05:04):
My cats? Which one is sitting here and she won't
get out of my way? I'm you know, ago, this
is Colleen Fiona Shannon Nolan. Now she's got all these
names because I couldn't make up my mind which one,
so I named her all of them. And she's a
sheltered cat and she's very quiet and demure and the
(05:26):
only time that she ever gets rampunctions is around one
o'clock at night when she gets what she gets the
midnight crazies. Last night, I was like, I'm gonna have
to put this car outside my room. Uh, but yeah,
I'm used to it. I take naps in the afternoon
because you know, all night long, throughout the night, she's
you know, she's she's jumping on my head. She's, you know,
(05:50):
telling me to look at the ghosts that she's shaking.
Speaker 4 (05:53):
They do that, right, they except I'm fortunate because when
the cat's usually jumping me out, it's my husband's side,
so he gets all the attention. They leave me alone.
So yeah, so it's I don't know, I don't know.
Maybe maybe because he gives him more treats. I don't know,
I don't know what it is. And then what about
(06:13):
your other cats?
Speaker 2 (06:14):
Now, my other cat is hysterical. He is Bubba. His
name is Nolan Nolan. Now. The reason he has the
double name is because when I went to the shelter,
I wanted a black cat because black cats don't get
adopted very often, and I always have a black cat,
so but I didn't want a baby. I didn't want
a kitten because I'm in the middle of writing a
(06:37):
book and you know, you have to keep taps on
them and see that they're not killing themselves. So I'm
on my way out because I didn't see any and
I just happened to look over and there was this
little ball of black fluff, couldn't have been more than
six months old, and I'm like, no, no, walk away, least. Yeah,
(06:58):
But but meanwhile, what's the cat's name? Oh, my gosh,
that's his time. Well, my husband says, they must have
seen you come in and switched theme and put Nolan
on there. So of course I had to get him.
And I called my husband to come and see the cat,
and he said, well, you're gonna get it anyway, so
just bring the cat home. I said it might be
(07:19):
a relative Nolan. So he's Nolan Nolan.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
He is.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
She Colleen is about eight pounds. Nolan Nolan's about twenty
one pounds. He is a bubba and he is very
smart cat. He stands up on his hind legs, puts
his two paws on the cabinet door and walks backwards
so that he opens the cabinet because that's where the
(07:45):
food is. So I had to get a child locked
because one day I came home and all the cabinets
were opening and I thought we got raw. It's like
it was like it was him, he was looking for
the food. But he he's he's a sweetheart. He's more
active than she is. You know, she's she's naps all
day long. He's, you know, looking into things and swatting
(08:08):
things off. The counter and you know, getting into trouble,
but I love them.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Has Nolan ever swiped anything open, Like if you had
a bag of kibble or chips or something on the
counter that he just sliced it.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Well, what he does is he learned how to open
the cabinets and then you know, I said, well, he
can't get at the food because it's it's you know,
it's not open. But we do have some open food
and we put it in a tupperware container. Well, wouldn't
you know he learned to open the tupperware yet, like
(08:40):
the wet food. The pet sitter said, I came in
and I didn't believe. What he also does is, you
know a lot of cats want to give you gifts,
you know with their outdoor cats that want to give
you you know a snake or you know a gopher. Well,
since they're indoor cats, he picks up clothes. So if
I leave, you know, like my bra around or I leave,
(09:03):
you know, a pair of my jeans, he puts them
in his mouth and he walks down the steps with them,
me outing. You know, I don't know what that is.
It's like crazy, but I can't leave any Yeah, he's
he's uh, he's something. I tell you, he's got a
personality plus but it's fun, you know, because you never
(09:24):
know where.
Speaker 4 (09:24):
Yeah, and you have such a sparkling personality. So I
think it's a good match.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Oh yeah, yeah. So many times I get annoyed with
him because you don't need to watch, you don't need
a clock, you don't need your phone. He can tell
you what time it is because the you know, the
crack of three o'clock. He has to eat and he
will sit at the bottom of the stairs going now,
you know, and so you know, and people say, well,
(09:51):
you shouldn't give in to him, you should let him
me out, but it drives me crazy. So I feed him.
You know, he has to have his food, and I
have to close the door to where he eats his
food because he will then finish his food and run
upstairs to get her food. You know, he's like a
crazy cat when it comes to food, but very loving.
(10:13):
You know, he's a loving animal. He's he's got a
lot of personality. He's always good.
Speaker 4 (10:20):
Okay, so let's talk about you've written for books for children,
for adults, for tweens. Is there any particular age group
that you have a preference.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
For well, you know, I do like to do my
adult humor because there are so many people who are
into cats now so they understand what I'm talking about.
Because initially people used to look at me like, oh,
you're gonna make earrings out of your cat hair. Oh
you've got cat hero all over you. You know, they
didn't understand about what goes along with owning cats. You know,
(10:56):
so now people are like they stand you know, now
they get it. Yeah, they get it exactly. You're right,
they get it. You know, if you come to you
can get all dressed up and the cot will jump
on you when you get hair all over. You know,
you cannot get rid of every single bit of hair
that you have on you.
Speaker 4 (11:15):
You know, So I think with your when you're a
pet parent, you dress for your pets, for your fur babes,
if you can like more dark clothed and like. And
I thought I was the only one until I found out,
know what's a thing Like some people, if they have
a white cat, will wear a lot of white clothing
or light colored clothing.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
And you know, as far as keeping a house that
is picked to perfectly, forget about it. You know, you know,
I bought a new couch that has like a chase.
So I thought, if my husband, you know, wants to
nap or something while he's watching TV, you know, he
can stretch his legs out. Well, who's who is now
using that? But we adopted just recently a dog from
(11:58):
one of the rescues. She was a puppy mill dog,
poor thing, and she but guess what we named her? What?
Nolan Nolan? No, we named her miss kitty. Miss kitty.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
That's better. That's much more creative than that. Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (12:14):
Well, what we did was, you know, my husband is
used to uh calling the cats here kitty, here, here, kitty,
kitty and all of that, and so he did that
with the dog. He started. So we said, that's great,
we'll call her miss kitty. This is what everybody's kitty,
and we don't have to think about easy.
Speaker 4 (12:31):
Yeah, you know, it's kind of said that when you
have cats. What is the saying it's their house? You're
just uh, how does that go?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Yeah, Well, it's it's sort of like they own the
house and you're just there to to be served pretty
much for the for the food and cleaning up the
kitty litter and you know, fluffing the pillows, and when
I go away, I have a list of like four
pages of the pet for what the pet sitter should do,
(13:02):
and that Colleen gets stuff and such amount of food
on a China dish, the small china dish, and she
gets it heated in the microwave for one minute. You know,
all these instructions like three pages.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
You're not unique or unusual doing that that, I say
is kind of norm versus just putting.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
It in the ball.
Speaker 4 (13:29):
And that said, and I've had my dogs are on
doggy Heaven now, so I just have a cat crew.
But you know, for my dogs, I didn't get that fancy.
But for the cats, yeah, you kind of do. I
don't know why. It's like you need to. I mean
it might nine of them refresh the eaters.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
I think they demand it because you know, this is
what and we spoil them because when I first got Colleen,
she wouldn't eat anything, right, but then she kind of
liked only the fish, so she wouldn't eat them. You know,
if I put out meat wet food, she wouldn't eat it, Okay,
chicken wet food. So then I started just giving her
(14:07):
that and then she would eat a little bit. But
I noticed that if I put.
Speaker 4 (14:10):
It, if it was too cold, she know, if it's
too cold, they don't want it. If it's too hot,
they don't want it. If they're not in the mood
for salmon, but they want, you know, some other kind
of fish.
Speaker 2 (14:21):
But we give in to them because you know, I
think to myself, oh my god, she's not eating you know,
she'll waste the way, you know. Whereas the dogs, you know,
they gobble everything. They don't care what it is, you know,
so they're not as fussy as cats are. But I
think we sort of encourage that, or you know, we
(14:44):
let them get away with it, because I a couple
of times I came up with like six different kinds
of cat food, you know, to see if she would
eat one of them. And then the funny part about
that is she'll eat it, and you'll get all excited.
You'll say, oh, isn't it wonderful. We found the cat
food that she likes, and you go out and you
buy you know, four cases of it, give it to
(15:05):
her the next day and she tries to bury it. Oh,
she doesn't like it anymore.
Speaker 4 (15:10):
That's cats, that's cats, Okay, We're going to take a
short break and we'll be back and we'll talk about
your book Why can't my brother be More Like My Cat?
We'll be right back. Hey, guys, Michelle Furne here, is
your cat slowing down or having health issues? Do you
wonder what can I do to make them feel better?
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Well?
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(15:52):
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(16:15):
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Speaker 1 (16:34):
Let's talk past.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Let's done that at.
Speaker 5 (16:36):
Life Radio, Headline Radio, Petlifradio dot com.
Speaker 4 (16:51):
Welcome back everyone. We're talking to Aliyah Zoebel Nolan. She
is the author of Why Can't My Brother Be More
Like My Cat? And this is a children's book and
it's the first one, first children's book you wrote with
the cat. So first of all, I have to ask
about the type of cat. It's the Ostasians are gorgeous,
thereby Lee Wildish and they're just stunning. They're so adorable.
(17:15):
Why a great cat? Is it a certain typers it
just a great cat?
Speaker 2 (17:19):
Well, here's the thing. This man is a New York
Times best selling illustrator. And I wasn't sure I would
be able to get him because he's always busy, and
you know, he doesn't know me from Adam. I self
published this book, so you know, for me to just
write him a note saying I want to, you know,
would you do this for me? I didn't think. I
(17:41):
took a chance, which is what I encourage people to do,
take a risk, because you know they can always say no.
And he was in between books and he said he
would love to do it. And I almost fell off
the chair because I was so excited. So I left
it to him. What he did is there are three
characters in this book, the brother, the cat, and the
(18:02):
little girl. Now I fell in love with the look
of the little girl. She's got red hair that is puffy,
and she has these big glasses. And his interpretation of
these characters is just off the charts. Cute.
Speaker 4 (18:16):
Wait, let me ask you. So you just said, lead,
this is the bug, go for it.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Well, this I gave him an I worked directly with him,
rather than working through a publisher and an art director
and you know, the marketing department. It was just me
and him and I wrote it. But what's called an
art brief, and that is you tell the artist what
you want to see on every page. Now, you don't
tell them down to the last you know, eyeglass or
(18:41):
the color of the cat. So I left it to him,
and he showed me the three characters that were going
to be in the book ahead of time, rather than
you know, finish all the drawings, and I say, well,
I hate the way that looks, and I love the cat.
I didn't tell him what, you know, unless you have
a really really big preference, like if you if I
(19:02):
wanted a black cat, or I wanted a you know,
some kind of tabby or whatever. But I think also
because the girl has this shocking red hair, that maybe
he stayed away from, you know, a ginger cat or
a black cat because it would be too much of
a contrast. The gray just works out, you know. The
(19:23):
cat personality comes through this cat. And I left it
to him because you know, I've seen his work and
I knew he would do a great job, so I
left it to him.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
I think the cat's adorable. I think all the characters
are adorable. Why did you introduce a cat between a
brother and a sister?
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Yes, exactly. Now, simple rivalry has been around since Cain
and Abel, okay, and and and Cat. And every time
I go into a store and you see the brothers,
you know, got a face and the little sister is
you know, trying to get or crying or whatever, and
I thought, you know, this would I actually went back
(20:03):
to my original books for that. I do for adults
and I saw that I had one hundred and one
reasons why a cat is better than a man, another
one hundred and one reasons why a cat is better
than a man. Why is a cat still better than
a man? So I thought, there's a theme going on here,
and if I can adapt that to a children's book,
(20:27):
I think I might have found my theme. So instead
of having the brother and the sister be exclusively in
this rivalry, I said, I think that I want to
put a cat in there, and put a cat in
the mix, and not have a brother against sister, but
comparing the cat against the brother, And that seemed to
(20:50):
really work out well. So that's what I did. I
think it's great. I didn't have a brother, so I
couldn't really take from my childhood. But I did have
a sister who was very a little nutsy in that
once she put a what do you call it? A
(21:11):
lobster in my bed, She put a lobster in my
dad and I went into the bed. Oh, you know.
She did like things like what the brother is doing
in the book. So I called that information from my childhood.
And my sister also, she used to be a nutcase
(21:31):
as far as fresh air and in the middle of
like a night like tonight, when it's like, you know,
minus eight degrees, she would have all the windows open
and tell me, oh, it's good for your health. You
know you should we should have the windows open, and
I would be freezing. And another thing she did, she
was teaching me how to dance, and she was twirling
(21:52):
me around and the floor that we were dancing on
was like linoleum. So she twirled me around and let
me go. I was I was flying across the room.
So those are things. Those are things that I can
imagine are on part with what the sister and the
brother would go through.
Speaker 4 (22:12):
I have two brothers, and I think perfectly yes, perfectly correct.
Speaker 2 (22:17):
And then you know, I wanted kids also to take away.
You know, kids are always looking towards the you know,
their animals, my dog, my cat, and cats are wonderful
in they're they're just the best. But when things bush
comes to shove and you need someone to help you
with a bully or help you with math, your your
(22:38):
brother's there to help you, and most of them will
be very happy to come to your aid. There's a
saying that I think Kenny Rogers said, friends come and
go but family is forever.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
For better or worse. Family is forever better or for worse.
And you know, even in the Bible, there's a I
looked it up. There's a phrase I re remember. There's
a scripture that says a friend loves at all times,
but a brother is born for adversity. And that's like,
this is what this book is all about. You know
about how the brother comes to the We're not going
(23:13):
to tell how, but the brother comes to the to
the sister's age, which is nice.
Speaker 2 (23:19):
It's a nice thing.
Speaker 4 (23:21):
You finished all your children's books rhyme.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
No, But and here's the thing. Rhyming is very difficult.
Everybody thinks that they can do rhyme, but there's a
certain beat to it, and there's a certain I am
the pentameter. There's all these AA B B and this
that and the other. And if you're looking to publish
with a traditional publisher, they are very strict about it.
(23:47):
But rhyme sticks in a child's mind better than regular text.
I have a friend who had a granddaughter who memorized
one of my books because it's sing song and she
even though she couldn't read, she memorized it.
Speaker 4 (24:03):
That makes total sense, I mean one of the most
well known book authors.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Doctor. It's difficult, but rhyming. If you do it well,
kids can remember it and they can sort of, you know,
go along with it, or or keep a couple of parents,
keep a couple of sentences in their head. I like
to for this age. The book is. The book is
really for everybody, all ages, but the book is targeted
(24:32):
towards from three to seven, and that age they really
do like rhyme. But I'll tell you one thing. I
once did a conference with kids and I asked them
what do you like better in a book? The words
or the pictures? And of course you know what they said,
not the word pictures. So you know, so kids really
(24:54):
you know the visual at that age.
Speaker 4 (24:57):
So do you hope that by you know, us as
cat pet parents, because most of my audience are not
probably not children, but I do have some children listeners
out there and tweens, And do you hope that by
introducing books and talking to them about books, it will
help them to, you know, become readers in their adults.
Speaker 2 (25:21):
Oh? I hope.
Speaker 4 (25:22):
So reading is We could talk for hours about why
reading is important. We both shared a little before the
show about how much we love reading. I've been an
avid reader my entire life, probably why I'm near sighted,
but but I cannot imagine not being able to read.
And I know unfortunate because some people unfortunately have challenges
(25:43):
with it. But I think reading is the best thing ever.
Do you think us as cat parents, because mostly of
us are a little older, by starting children with you know,
getting them engaged at a young age, that will influence
them as adults to be you know, become readers.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
Well so, And I think so. I did another conference
about why picture books are so important because it's not
just the language, uh and the and you know, teaching
them new words, but they're also getting a look at
different you know, cultures, and they're getting something that they
(26:22):
wouldn't they they wouldn't normally see at their preschool or whatever.
It takes them into different lands and different types of things.
And you know, there's an exercise that I do sometimes
with children, and I don't put the words in and
I let them look at the pictures and then they
use their imagination to make up the story. And this
(26:45):
is so important for their just for their whole being,
that they're able to use their imagination, you know, to to.
You know, what do you see in this book? Is
that little girl? What is she doing? And you know,
it opens them up to not be afraid to see
(27:05):
or say what they see. That's number one. It gives
them language opportunities to learn new languages, new cultures, new
ways of doing things, and it broadens them, you know,
because when a kid goes into preschool, they've never hear
they've probably never seen other kids that don't look that
(27:26):
aren't a mirror image of them. So it's good to
get them. So it's not a shock. It's like what,
you know, I've never seen a person with a you know,
like a headband on or something like that. So these
types of picture books expand the child's imagination and their
world really and let me tell you, I couldn't live
(27:48):
without a book. My mother in law, God versus soul
used to take books in her purse and anytime she
was like online or you know, online at a grocery store,
she whip out the book. And you know, books are
your carpet to other worlds. I mean, I can't I
(28:09):
can't stress enough that children should be introduced and you
should try that with the kids. What do you see
on this page. What do you think that you know
the girl is doing and why is she doing that?
And blah blah blah. You know, get them involved, you know,
in the book. It's not just reading to them, it's
(28:30):
getting them involved in the book. That's engaged. That's the
word I'm looking for. So that they will, you know,
they'll want they'll want to read another book about you know,
about cats, or or you know, introduce them to show
them a book or an encyclopedia of all the different
kinds of cats. It's not just you know, your your
(28:50):
rescue cat. Look at this cat is the sphinx. He
doesn't have any hair.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Aliah, I'm thinking of your next book Cats different cats. Yeah,
like stinks, no hair, this one it has little little ears.
A lot of people aren't aware that cats don't just
look like you know, the standard cat as well a
lot of people, but kids really don't, right.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
I did an article for a kid's magazine that talked
about introduced them to all the different kinds of cats
and also show cats you know, uh, the Persian cats
and the sphinx cats and the you know. I find
it fascinating that sometimes there are new cats or cats
that i'd never you know, I don't know about And
(29:35):
it's fascinating when you go to these cat shows and
walk up and down the aisle and you see all
the end they're so patient, the cats are being groomed
and they're just sitting there like, okay, do your bed
and make me look. It's amazing. They're for me. They're
wonderful creatures. Now, I just we just got this dog
(29:58):
and I never had a dog, and I'm learning that, Well,
this dog is exceptional because she doesn't bark, and she
doesn't she's not in your face, I swear, well, because
she was in this bucking mill. You know. I don't
think he was ever in the house, so she had
to get used to, you know, walking up and down
the steps and she you know so. But I'm I
(30:21):
must say, I'm I'm understanding now why people are so
nuts about dogs too.
Speaker 4 (30:27):
Even though we're all about cats on atitude, a lot
of people have dogs and cats. And I know that
our listening audience knows. Dennis was my first cat, which
is good because he's part main coon and they're the
dog of cats.
Speaker 2 (30:41):
Oh gosh, I love that.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Yes, for me, the reason it was good is because
I grew up with dogs and it was always about dogs,
so I had to learn. However, getting Molly and Charlotte
taught me about cats. And as we talked about earlier,
you're so right. They all have their own quirky you know,
habits and reacts and personalities. It's just they're just amazing creatures,
(31:04):
which is why we love them. Where can people find
your book?
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Well, this new book and most of my books are
on Amazon, but this latest book, why Can't My Brother
Be More Like My Cat? You can get it anywhere.
It's at Warnes and Noble, It's at frifty Books or whatever.
It's anywhere. If you go online and you can pick
your favorite bookstore. And if they don't have it, they
can get it because I have extended distribution this time,
(31:33):
so anybody can get it.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Also, where can people find out more about you? I
know you have a great website?
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Well, I have a website. It's very simple. It's w
w W Aaliyah Wrights a l l I A and
the word Rights dot com correct Aliah Wrights dot com,
yeah dot com, yeah yeah, And it has mostly all
of my books. I try to keep it up to date.
It's oh, this book one Zippy a War won an
(32:00):
award already. I'm so excited.
Speaker 4 (32:02):
Uh oh, congratulations coming award. It's called there's a publisher
called Zibby Zibby Owens, and she's very big in publishing.
But she had a terrible thing happened. She lives in
New York and she lives in California, and she was gonna.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Have an award. We were gonna go there and it
was gonna be a whole big thing, but her house
almost caught on fire because she was in La. Her
house was in La, so obviously she had a you know, cancel.
But we just got our little certificates. So you know
that in fifty cents gets you on the subway. But
but it's nice.
Speaker 4 (32:38):
Well it's still an honor, you know.
Speaker 2 (32:40):
It was especially this This book isn't out very long,
but I think, you know, it's a fun book. My
last book was about cats in heaven, and by right,
it was a little sad. So this book is all
such fun. And every time I look at it, I
just love the little girl and the cat and the brother.
(33:01):
It's just I love it. It's one of my favorites.
Speaker 4 (33:03):
It's a wonderful book.
Speaker 2 (33:05):
One last thing this summer. I have a book called
Finding Harmony, The Kitten Who Taught Friends' Kindness, and that
will be.
Speaker 4 (33:13):
Come okay, and maybe you can come back on Catitude.
Speaker 2 (33:15):
Oh that would be nice.
Speaker 4 (33:17):
I would love to have you. Aliah, thank you so
much for coming on Catitude and telling us all about
your cats and about your book Why Can't My Brother
Be More Like My Cat?
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Thank you. I appreciate your support.
Speaker 4 (33:30):
You're so welcome. I hope you all enjoyed this show.
I love having Aleiah on. She's so sparkling. That's the
word for her. She has such an effervescent personality and
it comes across in her books. Please check out Aleah
Wrights dot com. There will also be the link on
the page Petline Video dot com go to Catitude, go
(33:52):
to this show and there'll be a link to her site.
I want to thank my cat crew that let me
read them the book because I don't have any little
ones at my house, so I write it to my cats.
Why Can't My Brother Be More Like My Cat? By
Aleiah Zobel Nolan. So thank you, Mollie, Charlotte and Dennis,
and of course thank you to everyone listening the Caatitude.
(34:14):
I appreciate your listenership so much. Thank you so much.
I'd also want to thank my producer, Mark Winter. This
show would not be the same without him working as magic.
Thank you Mark for all you do, and thank you
for the music that you write for well. My Catitude
song is amazing, but thank you for all the ones
you do. And thank you again Patitude listeners, and hey
(34:37):
remember lose the attitude and have Catitude.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on petlifradio
dot com.
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