A chance meeting at a Pittsburgh nursing home led to the creation of a children’s book, “Bee & Cat,” through the collaboration of a resident and a high school junior. Cathy Vonderau, a resident at Little Sisters of the Poor, has been a writer for decades but kept one children’s story tucked away for 60 years. “My nickname was Cat, and my friend’s nickname was Bee. It was somebody I had just met. I thought, ‘Cat and Bee’, that’s a good name for a story sometime,” Vonderau said. Staying true to herself, she decided to finally write the story 60 years later. However, she faced one challenge: children’s books need engaging illustrations, and Vonderau admitted she couldn’t draw. “I thought I’d be drawing stick figures to illustrate this,” she said. During a mission trip to Little Sisters of the Poor, Averie Strohm, a junior at Oakland Catholic High School, sat down next to Vonderau and began doodling. “Any time a pencil or piece of paper is near me, I just start, I don’t know, just doodling,” Strohm said. Vonderau noticed Strohm’s talent and asked her to draw a bee and a cat. “She was saying that she had this book written and she needed an illustrator for it. I mean, that’s not what I expected to hear, but it was very exciting,” Strohm said. Over the next few months, the two worked together to bring “Bee & Cat” to life—a story about friendship, created through one. “You can make up, you can have a fight with someone or disagree with someone, your best friend even, and you can work it out,” Vonderau said. The collaboration became a lesson in creativity and the power of different generations working together. “I could ask her anything. She’s always as nice as she is right now. Sweet and very hard worker,” Vonderau said. “A lot of people think that at that age you wouldn’t really be able to do what Kathy did. But I think anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it,” Strohm said. Using their unique gifts, the book is now published and available on Amazon. On June 11, Vonderau and Strohm will sit side by side to sign copies together at 2:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Little Sisters of the Poor in Brighton Heights on Pittsburgh’s North Side.
PITTSBURGH —
A chance meeting at a Pittsburgh nursing home led to the creation of a children’s book, “Bee & Cat,” through the collaboration of a resident and a high school junior.
Cathy Vonderau, a resident at Little Sisters of the Poor, has been a writer for decades but kept one children’s story tucked away for 60 years.
“My nickname was Cat, and my friend’s nickname was Bee. It was somebody I had just met. I thought, ‘Cat and Bee’, that’s a good name for a story sometime,” Vonderau said.
Staying true to herself, she decided to finally write the story 60 years later.
However, she faced one challenge: children’s books need engaging illustrations, and Vonderau admitted she couldn’t draw.
“I thought I’d be drawing stick figures to illustrate this,” she said.
During a mission trip to Little Sisters of the Poor, Averie Strohm, a junior at Oakland Catholic High School, sat down next to Vonderau and began doodling.
“Any time a pencil or piece of paper is near me, I just start, I don’t know, just doodling,” Strohm said.
Vonderau noticed Strohm’s talent and asked her to draw a bee and a cat.
“She was saying that she had this book written and she needed an illustrator for it. I mean, that’s not what I expected to hear, but it was very exciting,” Strohm said.
Over the next few months, the two worked together to bring “Bee & Cat” to life—a story about friendship, created through one.
“You can make up, you can have a fight with someone or disagree with someone, your best friend even, and you can work it out,” Vonderau said.
The collaboration became a lesson in creativity and the power of different generations working together.
“I could ask her anything. She’s always as nice as she is right now. Sweet and very hard worker,” Vonderau said.
“A lot of people think that at that age you wouldn’t really be able to do what Kathy did. But I think anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it,” Strohm said.
Using their unique gifts, the book is now published and available on Amazon. On June 11, Vonderau and Strohm will sit side by side to sign copies together at 2:30 p.m. in the auditorium at Little Sisters of the Poor in Brighton Heights on Pittsburgh’s North Side.