A tiny pooch with a heart-shaped patch of black on her tail end had a story to tell and a Nockamixon Township grandmother had a need to tell it.
The peak of the pandemic, said Bonita “Bonnie” Waitl, “when nobody went anywhere,” offered the perfect opportunity to write a book she had dreamed about writing for years.
Bitsy, an adopted Papillon-Chihuahua mix, now lives in her forever home with Bonnie and her husband, Bernd. But her journey has taken her from a puppy farm where she lived in a cage, never to walk on grass or play with a toy and forced to bear litter after litter of pups.
Rescued and turned over to the SPCA, Bitsy was adopted by the Waitls’ daughter. Vickie, who later lost her life to cancer. After that, Bonnie and Bernd adopted Bitsy and found themselves a whole lot of love. Their deep faith got them through the dark days but Bitsy’s antics were certainly helpful.
Retired now, Bonnie turned to her natural talents to write and illustrate “The Adventures of Bitsy B,” a book for children. It was an impressive venture for a woman who “just turned 89” and whose only writing credits were “work on the high school yearbook at the old Sell-Perk High School. She said, “I also won a literary prize in my senior year.”
She had, however, developed her accompanying artistic talents. When she was 12 years old she started to study with Pennsylvania impressionist Walter Emerson Baum, founder of the Baum School of Art and the Allentown Art Museum.
Bonnie not only wrote the book, she also did many of the illustrations, including the cover, which is based on her acrylic painting. A few other illustrations were done by artist Emily Brooks.
Urged by one of her husband’s friends, Bonnie submitted her manuscript and illustrations to Saratoga Publishing, a boutique publisher in New York. She saw her first copy of the book in September.
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