Cats vs. dogs: Student’s book for children has lessons for grown-ups.

DALLAS (SMU) – Ella and Max were good, furry friends until different opinions got in their way. They turned their backs on their close friendship and refused to communicate with each other.

Sound familiar as we prepare for Nov. 5 and beyond?

SMU senior political science and dance performance major Anna Kelley Zielke created both characters for a children’s book she has written about a broken friendship between a cat and a dog. The charming story is a mirror for our times.

^{Illustration by SMU student Anastasiya Shyvilka.}

“Our country is at one of those moments where I wonder if respecting one another’s political differences is still possible?” Zielke asks.

She didn’t set out to write a children’s book to answer the question – but Zielke’s research led to Ella and Max. Here’s how she got there:

• Discussing politics at Oxford Despite a lifelong interest in politics, Zielke grew weary of the topic – until an SMU political science professor at SMU-in-Oxford taught her that trust is key to civil political conversations. 
• Learning a key definition as a Bush Institute student intern. Zielke didn’t know the meaning of pluralism when she became an intern in the Institute’s Strengthening American Democracy initiative. “It’s the ability to co-exist and even become good friends with people who are very different from you,” she says.
• Conducting political focus groups among her peers. After joining a Bush Institute student focus group on pluralism, Anna Kelley created her own SMU focus groups, learning other students were concerned about America’s political division too.
• Drafting a prize-winning essay on pluralism for SMU’s Maguire Center for Ethics and Public responsibility. She wrote, “Those who think differently than us aren’t bad people, they just have a different way of approaching a problem than we do.”

Why it matters?

The young author believes writing a children’s book is her best way to share her message across generations. Zielke and Anastasiya Shyvilka, an SMU studio art major who is illustrating the book, are looking for a literary agent and publisher.

Spoiler alert

Ella the cat and Max the dog decide their respect and admiration for one another is more important than their differences, and in the end, restore their friendship.

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