Former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal shares new children’s book exploring friendship and loss

Nathan Deal poses with his cat.
Former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Veto the Cat (Courtesy of Nathan Deal)

Love is the at the center of “Veto, the Governor’s Cat.” Love for reading, for pets, and above all, love for the author’s extraordinary wife, the late Sandra Deal, former first lady of Georgia.

Former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal wrote the children’s story as a tribute to Sandra Deal, who read books to students at more than a thousand schools across Georgia and championed literacy throughout her husband’s two terms in office. According to Nathan Deal, the book is a story about his cats Bill and Veto.

“They were born in a barn in a farm in North Hall County, brought to the Governor’s Mansion as small kittens, grew up there at the Governor’s Mansion, made friends with the men and women who worked there,” he said.

Deal joined “City Lights” with Lois Reitzes to talk about the book, which is illustrated by Cheryl Riner Hodge.