And Then I Read: THE JOURNALS OF LAVINIA R. DAVIS

THE DANNY CRESPI FILES Part 17 And Then I Read: CAPTAIN GINGER #2

And Then I Read: THE JOURNALS OF LAVINIA R. DAVIS

Here’s a book that will interest almost no one, but it’s of great interest to me. Lavinia R. Davis is a favorite author of books for children, and I particularly love her novels about children and animals beginning with “Hobby Horse Hill” in 1939. Her books are mostly long out of print and she is largely forgotten. This book, privately published by her family in 1964 about three years after her death, is composed of excerpts from her journals. Often the subject is the author’s continuing struggles to be a better writer, but many entries focus on her family, children, and extended family, animals, the places she lived and visited, friends, nature, the seasons, and anything that interested her. References to specific books of hers are few, but the writing is appealing and the life described is worth reading about for me, and I suspect for any other fans of her work. There is little information to be found about her elsewhere. It was edited by her nephew Samuel Sloan Walker Jr., and contains a fine photo of the author at the beginning, the best one I’ve seen:

At the end is a complete list of her books, including some titles I haven’t seen (A few were written under the pen name Wendell Farmer.) I thought I’d list them here for others, like me, in search of more Lavinia R. Davis books, though many of these definitely do not interest me as much as my favorites. See end of list for key to symbols.

A Biography of the Writings of Edith Wharton 1933

The Keys to the City 1936«

Skyscraper Mystery 1937^

Adventures in Steel 1938«

Americans Every One 1938«

Hobby Horse Hill 1939*

We All Go Away 1940^

Buttonwood Island 1941*

Grab Bag (co-editor and contributor) 1941«

Pony Jungle 1941*

We All Go To School 1942^

Plow Penny Mystery 1943*