Saturday, December 13, 2014

It's Art! It's Cats! It's A Book! It's Double Trouble A-Z: The Adventures of Bugsy And Knuckles By Lou Belcher

Welcome to the wacky, whimsical world of Bugsy and Knuckles, better known as Double Trouble, and who are the inspiration for the delightful book:
Book Cover Courtesy of Lou Belcher


Many in the cat world know that  Bugsy and Knuckles are kitty brothers, better known as The Boys who get along so well, and are so deeply attached to each other,  that they appear to have some sort of telepathic communication system that only they understand! Most of their antics take place on the blog that they share with "HH" aka Her Highness, who is known to the rest of the world as Lou Belcher, Author of The Zen of Max, and the blog (Before You Write), that she shares with Bugsy, Knuckles and their special friend, Checkers the Mouse.  In addition to being a superb author/free-lance writer, Lou is  also a talented artist.

Many of us have had the unique pleasure of watching her latest book: Double Trouble: The Adventures of Bugsy and Knuckles begin to come to life on her blog! We also have the distinct honor of remembering when Bugsy and Knuckles first came into Lou's life, when she adopted them from the SPCA of North Brevard three and a half years ago.


This is "Bugsy"
(Photo Courtesy of Lou Belcher)
"He is mellow most of the time
and rarely takes the lead.
Consequently, he doesn't end up
in trouble as often as Knuckles."

This is "Knuckles"
 Photo Courtesy of  Lou Belcher
"He is full of energy
and is always planning
an assault of some sort.
He usually fails,
consequently, he is the
comic relief in my life."

Bugsy and Knuckles are REAL LIFE brothers! They are litter mates! Where one is, the other is sure to follow. They share a passion for play and their special telepathic communication system allows them to "pull off capers that have earned them the title DOUBLE TROUBLE"


"Bugsy and Knuckles"
Illustration Courtesy of Lou Belcher



How did the book come to be?
Initially Lou planned to write a story about The Boys and realized that she had enough material for several books (which will follow!). She had a "board meeting" with Bugsy, Knuckles and their mouse friend Checkers, and decided that a cartoon book would be a good place to start!

Who are the characters in the book?
Well, Bugsy and Knuckles of course, and "HH" and as a special treat, The Boys decided that their best friend, Checkers the Mouse should narrate the book!  Checkers normally likes to stay out of the limelight but he said that HH promised him a substantial amount of cheese as payment for narration and he just couldn't refuse!!
"Checkers The Mouse"
Illustration Courtesy of Lou Belcher


Why an alphabet book?
From Lou:The idea for the cartoon book to be structured as an alphabet book came from The Boys wanting to show you all of their favorite things and activities.



Bugsy and Knuckles
love to SKYDIVE
one of the words featured in Double Trouble!
Illustration Courtesy of Lou Belcher

 In their enthusiasm, the list of what they wanted to show you grew longer and longer. So I gave them the assignment of choosing only four words for each letter of the alphabet, and I promised them we'd build a little glimpse into their lives from that.
"Double Trouble Trouble!!"
Illustration courtesy of Lou Belcher


Double Trouble is a "book about pictures, NOT reading", which makes it an ideal book to set out on the coffee table, to give as a gift to your humor/cat-loving friends for the holidays, or for ANY time!

I was particularly smitten with Double Trouble for a couple of reasons.

The Drawings Were Done By Hand
I am drawn to, and appreciate art (particularly cartooning, and art that is NOT computer generated). Having grown up with a father who was a famous Editorial Cartoonist, I have an understanding of the time it takes to create a drawing (with one's own HAND). The drawings may have a simplistic look, but achieving simplicity in a cartoon while evoking a response, is a talent that many would love to have, and few possess. Lou's drawings are light and playful and purrfectly capture the mischief making personalities of The Boys.

Non-Traditional Words Are Used For The Alphabet
Which makes Double Trouble a suitable read for ADULTS! It doesn't contain the usual "A is for apple", "H is for Horse", but instead there are words such as Amok, Acrobat, Jam, Jazz, Knickknacks and Octopus. Each word has it's own page with a corresponding witty caption depicting a unique adventure or experience that Bugsy and Knuckles had that involve that word. While children will also enjoy Double Trouble, it is far from being a book that is geared just towards children.

Whether Lou is writing or painting, she LOVES to make people laugh and smile! Another of her passions is cats. Lou succeeds in combining all of her passions in Double Trouble! If you can relate to,  and appreciate the antics of cats, and if you love humor and cartoons, you will find Double Trouble A-Z The Adventures of Bugsy and Knuckles to be the purrfect antidote for a stress-filled day!

AS WITH THE ZEN OF MAX, A PORTION OF THE PROCEEDS FROM DOUBLE TROUBLE WILL GO TO HELPING ANIMALS IN SHELTERS.

YOU CAN PURCHASE
DOUBLE TROUBLE A-Z THE ADVENTURES OF BUGSY AND KNUCKLES ON AMAZON, NEW GALLERY AND THERE IS A LINK ON LOU'S WEBSITE AS WELL. YOU CAN ALSO:

ENTER TO WIN!!
Lou is kindly offering TWO OF OUR READERS WHO RESIDE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD the chance to win a copy of Double Trouble A-Z The Adventures Of Bugsy And Knuckles!  (An approximate $10 value).  Entering is easy! Just enter on the rafflecopter below!!  THE WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON DECEMBER 20TH! 

GOOD LUCK!!
a Rafflecopter giveaway


In full disclosure: We were not compensated for this review/give-away. We were sent a copy of Double Trouble A-Z The Adventures of Bugsy and Knuckles in exchange for our honest review.

We are also proud to have this review/give-away be a part of the Caturday Art Blog Hop kindly hosted by Marie and Athena!    Check out the other Caturday Art Participants!







































40 comments:

  1. I was so excited to see this book happen! I love Bugsy and Knuckles, and my human thinks HH is so talented and super creative!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love Lou's drawings. I'm cherishing the painting she made of my Avalon.

    ReplyDelete
  3. We'd just received "Double Trouble" earlier this week, as a birthday gift to my grand-boy (he is five years old today ... see our blog!) and everything you say in this post is 100% SPOT-ON. He's already been reading and re-reading each night with many giggles (and learning new words!) and I am anxious to steal it away from him, to read it myself. I've had the great pleasure of meeting Lou a couple of times (we used to be "almost neighbors") and hope to visit her again soon. She is so very talented in so many ways ... and a warm and lovely purr-son! Great book!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ann I am so happy that you have the book and I THANK YOU for sharing your thoughts. THANK YOU! You know, that is an important part that I neglected to say, that with Lou's choice of words, children, such as your grandson can learn many more words! I would so LOVE to meet Lou one day, after all these years, we have still ot me. She has always been wonderful to me and I love her blog and artwork. Thank you soooooooo much for sharing!

      Delete
  4. Sure sounds like an adorable book! Mischief??? ME??? Well, I really don't get into mischief any more at my age but when I was little I might have been a bit of a little devil - my favorite thing was raiding the desk in the kitchen....pencils, paperclips - anything "loose" was my friend!

    Hugs, Sammy

    ReplyDelete
  5. The Staff bought The Zen of Max way back when we started blogging. It would be lovely to have a copy of this too, but I am told I don't need any more instructions on getting into mischief!!!! Huh! MOL

    ReplyDelete
  6. We have a copy and we loved it. Have a super Saturday.
    Best wishes Molly

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Molly thank you so much for sharing! You have a super Saturday too!

      Delete
  7. What a sweet book... I love it and would be purr-fectly thrilled to win a copy! Such talent too!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Caren and Cody... Thanks again for the beautiful post. We'll be anxious to see who wins the books.

    Have a great day!!!

    hugs, HH (Lou), Bugsy and Knuckles

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lou Hi! You are most welcome and it was our pleasure! We LOVE YOU AND YOUR WORK!!!! You have a great day too and ((((hugs)))) back!

      Delete
  9. That looks like a really cute book!

    Purrs xx
    Athena and Marie

    ReplyDelete
  10. Oh My Catness!!
    Trouble...yup we got that here fur sure!
    Minko likes to chew those cords, the confuser ones being his most delectable...and most expensive fur us to replace, naturally...
    Pipo likes to chew plastic, and he has opened some bags of noms, so that dog-guy could indulge...with some interesting consequences...like needing gaseous protective masks, MOL!

    That looks like a furbulous book to be able to win!

    ReplyDelete
  11. That looks so much fun!I wouldn't mind ready this one,I bet Speedy would Love it too,xx Rachel

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a great review. We have loved Bugsy and Knuckles from the very beginning.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a lovely book... We would be delighted to win a copy. and as a teacher Mum too ! Purrs

    ReplyDelete
  14. Great review, sweeties! Have a wonderful weekend! :D xx Roxy & Tigerlino <3

    ReplyDelete
  15. That sounds like a lovely book. I completely agree that litter mate brothers have a telepathic communication. Some of the things I witnessed with Eric and Flynn were amazing.
    BTW in our friday flashback post the grass had been flattened by the tractor and field roller and the boys were quite concerned that it looked and felt different to the previous day. It shows up best in the 5th photo.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my YES your boys were beyond telepathic! You so totally know!
      Oh geeze, I SAW the flattened grass but never thought that that was the answer! Geeze!

      Delete
  16. Oh, I love it! That picture of them in the pantry helping themselves to the treats is based on MY Bugsy, I am Sure! Did you come over? haha!

    ReplyDelete
  17. We love Bugsy and Knuckles and would love to win this book.

    ReplyDelete
  18. What cute kitties, that looks like a great book.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Such a wonderful book and two adorable brothers. Wishing Lou and the boys much success with this delightful book.

    ReplyDelete
  20. That looks like a very creative book.

    ReplyDelete
  21. What an adorable book!!! So clever and such fun illustrations too!
    ...so mischief? I think the question should be what kind of mischief DOESN'T Waffles get into.
    ; )

    ReplyDelete
  22. Hi Caren!
    Thank you for stopping by our blog.... and for your suggestion! I added an email subscriber on our sidebar :D
    Thanks again,
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  23. I love Lou’s work and Bugsy and Knuckles cos their names sound like crooks. Heh heh. I’d love to win this. Oh and Max the Quilt Cat was one of my first Twitter furrends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don’t get into mischief unless you want to count singing at 2:30 a.m. or playing the window blinds or jumping into the bag with the gifts. This all happened last night too.

      Delete
  24. Oh this sounds like a fun read!!! Paw-some!
    ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!

    ReplyDelete
  25. Aaaaaaw They sure awe cute.

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Lexi

    ReplyDelete
  26. We love Bugsy, Knuckles and Lou (HH)! We have a beautiful portrait of Moosey painted by Lou. :)

    ReplyDelete
  27. What an awesome review of Lou's book, Caren! We are such big fans of Lou and her work...this book is just precious!

    ReplyDelete