Journalist writes children’s book
Cliff Davis’s imagination sometimes runs away with him. This time it landed in a book.
Davis has penned “A Chookamook Came Over for Breakfast.”
Davis is not new to writing, he is a seasoned journalist. He has been a staff writer for the Hopewell News, did articles and wrote a column for the Progress-Index and regularly contributed to Richmond Magazine.
Davis was born on an Air Force base in Wyoming one December day. “No place for sunshine lovers!” Davis said.
“Writing has always been a part of me,” Davis said. “Life is so rich, so fascinating, with stories all around us, and some of us just can’t rest until we’ve done our best to tell them. I wrote a book in fourth grade as part of a class assignment, and I’ve been addicted ever since.”
The wordsmith said he has kept a journal, off and on since he was about nine, consistently since he was 13. “My first ‘book’ was about a horse who hated hay,” said Davis. “In eighth grade, I was surprised when my classmates made fun of my attempt to write a short story from a girl’s point of view, not being myself a girl. I could not comprehend their lack of empathy for my writer’s urge to see the world through different points of view.”
How did Chookamook come about?
“I was hungry,” explains Davis. “It was cold and dark. I was finishing a leaf-raking job in my uncle-in-law’s yard, and all I could think about was food. I started daydreaming about a world of food, and all of a sudden, I had my idea for ‘A Chookamook Came Over For Breakfast.’ My editor, the late Kathy Slade, had asked me to write a children’s book in serial format for the paper that we worked at, the Progress-Index, and now I was ready. From that moment, the biggest challenge was keeping up with Lizzie, my energetic protagonist. It took me about a month to write. This book is special to me as my first published work and because I was able to portray an unlikely heroine, a little girl trying to find her way in the world. “
‘In a Chookamook Came Over for Breakfast,’ Lizzie Lewis hates breakfast.She’d rather eat candy and other sweet treats.But then Lizzie’s Mama gives her a new cereal to try one with magic abilities.Taking a bite, Lizzie shrinks to a mere few inches high and enters the world of Breakfastland.In this magical place, she meets the Chookamooks, tiny, mouse-like creatures that help make breakfasts for the whole world.Enter the villain, Dr. Darktooth. Experience the challenges Lizzie and her new friends face.Can Breakfastland be saved? Will Lizzie ever like breakfast?
As for why a seasoned journalist would write a juvenile book? “ Why not? “ Davis replied. “It is just as hard to write for children as for adults, maybe harder – you can’t fool them!”
“Life is my passion,” the author said.”I love nature. I’m a lifelong gardener, amateur botanist, book fanatic, lover of music and language, a foodie and a philogynist – someone who is greatly interested in the accomplishments of women through the ages. I just find ‘herstory’ endlessly compelling. My greatest passion is my angel, my wife of 25 years, Anita, my inspiration.”
Davis’ s pen is busy again. “I’m finishing work on a nonfiction book, to be titled, ‘Little Blue Flower.’ Can’t go into details yet. And so many others, if I can just find the time,” he says.
“A Chookamook Came Over for Breakfast” is available in Chesterfield County Libraries and for purchase on Amazon.
