The best photo projects are the ones that make you stretch your brain, as well as your shutter finger. The books I’ve had the honor of doing with Lori Epstein at National Geographic Kids are a perfect example of when the two things come together in an (almost) harmonious and (usually) hilarious way.

We’ve braved icy mornings in New England, exploding soda bottles, flaming oranges, slime, lasers, buckets and buckets of pond water and–for our most recent adventure–the most mysterious force in all of the animal kingdom… the domesticated house cat.

After a successful Dog Science: Unleashed book release last year (also by author Jodi Wheeler-Toppen and a AAAS/Subaru Science Book of the Year finalist) we got the call–Make a companion book for cats.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking: they must mean genetically modified, extremely intelligent, fully trained, professional stunt cats, right?

[errrrr….. no.]

Luckily, we got the next best thing: super cooperative, funny, elegant, offbeat social cats, along with their human buddies. We traveled to a number of homes in the metro DC area and took on the feline superstars on their own home turf. And, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are very, very happy with the results.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking: they must mean extremely intelligent, fully trained, professional stunt cats, right?

[errrrr….. no.]

Luckily, we got the next best thing: super cooperative, funny, elegant, offbeat social cats, along with their awesome human buddies. We traveled to a number of homes in the D.C. area and took on the feline superstars on their own home turf. And, I think I can speak for all of us when I say that we are very, very happy with the results.

Look for it on bookshelves on August 27, 2019!