LAKELAND, Fla. – Victoria J. Saunders absolutely loves cats that are “cool”, “smart” and “lazy”.
In fact, the Plant City author and digital artist is so fond of colorful kittens, she wrote and illustrated a best-selling hardcover picture book about them.
Recently a #1 cat book on Amazon, “Chonky Alphabet” is her love letter(s) to carnivorous cats, especially her own cat Mishka, a certified “unit”.
Don’t know what “unit” is? Just open this quirky alphabet book.
“U belongs to Unit,” Saunders said, whose name is married, Vicky Smude, on Instagram. “To use that in a sentence: ‘That cat is an absolute unit.” Which means it’s just a big cat! “
Saunders said that “Mishka’s vet described her as a potato. So I think that’s the threshold to put her in chonkydom.”
“Chonky” is part of the online secret language of chubby pet owners. That’s where Saunders found solace and a smile a few years ago when she left her job as a CAT scan tech in Lakeland.
“I like to continue [chonky cat sites]”, she smiles.” I love the community and everyone is so positive. “
So, to lift her spirits, she started pairing difficult words with confusing illustrations.
And the rest is dull history.
In the book, the Z stands for “Zoomies” (meaning cats that run around very quickly), which Saunders had in human form when she discovered that “The Chonky Alphabet” had hit the mark. The #1 cat book on Amazon.
“Oh, when I found out, I definitely had Zoomies,” she said. “But Mishka just seemed annoyed with me.”
Saunders will sign “Chonky Alphabet” at Tipsy bookworm at Plant City on August 6 from 2-4pm. The event is very pet-friendly (of course).
