By Andrea Arnold
On July 31st, McBride’s Sadie Pryor was excited to announce the release of her first published book, An Alien’s Guide to Cats.
“An Alien’s Guide to Cats at its root, is about how everyone is different and unique, but still the same at the end of the day,” said Pryor. “The story is about an alien describing to a human what cats are, and he shows him a few different cats, but by the end the alien is confused because all the cats are so individual and diverse. The human goes on to tell the alien that just because they are different, doesn’t make them not cats, and that it’s love that binds them together in the end. ”
Pryor wrote An Alien’s Guide to Cats geared to a readership of children aged three to six, but thinks that others may also get some enjoyment from it as well.
“It’s a rhyming book, so it’s easy enough for younger kids to understand, but I think, still interesting enough for slightly older kids to enjoy too.”
Creative writing has been a passion of Pryor’s for most of her life.
“It started from a very young age. I was always making little story books for my sister and parents, usually about animals,” she said. “Even now, I write constantly, making new short stories and working on projects with my peers. It’s something that is innate in me.”
Writing a book was not an “if” for Pryor, it was a “when.” She has always known that one day she would be a published author.
Following graduation from high school in McBride, Pryor attended the Centre of Arts and Technology in Kelowna. There she took 3D Animation and Modeling for Games and Television. The “when” for Pryor came after she graduated from college and felt she had developed the necessary skills. She decided it was time to put her passion to paper and create her first published work.
The idea to write a story starring cats came very naturally to Pryor. For as long as she can remember, cats have been a constant part of her life, holding a very special place in her heart. She says they have been her best friends.
“It only felt natural to dedicate my first story to the animals that have been so important in my life thus far,” she said. “I also knew that I wanted to write something that had important meaning behind it, and diversity is a very prevalent topic in our day to day lives. So I combined the two things I knew I needed to write about.”
This first book also gave Pryor the opportunity to use her visual art skills that she has been honing. She has been a digital artist for the past six years. She used these talents to create the bright and playful images that fill the 36 pages.
Pryor hopes this book is just the beginning of her writing career. She has plans to start the first book in a children’s series about a cat and a dog. The ideas for this series have been sitting with Pryor for some time and she is looking forward to getting them into print.
She is keeping the plot of these future projects a secret, but hopes that readers will keep their eyes open for more of what she has to offer.
Pryor is using Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing to produce An Alien’s Guide to Cats. Each book is printed as orders come in for paperback copies through the Amazon website. The book is also available in Kindle form.
Pryor says it is the first result listed on the Amazon website when the title is used to search.
