Healdsburg author Gianna Davy was inspired by her own children in creating her new, second picture book “How Do I Wonder?” which asks questions that have no right or wrong answers.
“These are questions kids naturally encounter as they begin to experience the boundaries of life. They’re born with a vision of the world most adults don’t even remember having,” says Davy, who appears at Barnes & Noble in Santa Rosa this weekend to promote the book.
Offering readers ages 4 to 8 the same enthusiasm of “No One Owns the Colors,” her well-received debut, “How Do I Wonder?” (Collective Book Studio, 40 pages, $19.95) also featuring colorful illustrations by Brenda Rodriguez, is, Davy says, “like a sibling that came to fruition from the same person but has its own identity.”
Raised in Oakland, Davy, a former professional ballet dancer and currently a speech therapist, is the mother of two boys, 12-year-old Bensi and 9-year-old Obi, whom she calls “my kiddos.”
She credits them with illuminating her adult mind to young people’s broad, imaginative world, and prompting the rhyming text of “How Do I Wonder?”
“Who hears my wishes blown off dandelions?” taps on the door to spirituality. Davy says, “There are a lot of ‘who questions’ that come up inevitably. When you wish on dandelions, who carries away the wishes with the seeds? Is it the wind? Do the wishes reach an end zone?
“Who lights the fire for stars in Orion?” takes her sons’ similar question about the sun and opens the mind to every star in the universe.
Questions about where feelings are stored exemplify Davy’s whimsical yet wise style. Do they live in the heart or the eyes? Do they come and go when laughing or crying? More profound: Can you visit happiness? Pop in and say hi? Can we make it or bake it or eat it like pie?
“It’s important to think about, because you actually can make happiness. It’s like following a beloved, old recipe of your grandmother’s. The smell brings you back to a place that targets happy emotions,” Davy says.
Both of Davy’s books are published by the women-owned Collective Book Studio. Working on the first book, she says, was “a joy,” including the unexpected pleasure of marketing it: “I discovered I loved doing public readings. I was reliving the work through children while my second book was already brewing in my head,” she says.
The new book includes more existential questions that may prompt a variety of answers from adults and children. In a two-page spread, a girl with a rabbit in her hands stands in the rain and ponders, “Why is water wet? Why can’t I fly? Why do I forget?”
Davy uses examples to inspire youngsters to see the world, themselves and other people in different ways. She says, “Showing, rather than telling, pushes you into a new realm of invention. I want to inspire kids to constantly be looking beyond what they see and already think. The greatest creative life is built every single day. To be healthy and happy in this world, we have to envision something beyond what’s happening to us. Kids not having a great childhood will have to work harder, but yes, these are skills that are possible for every person.”
With children today exposed to constant stimulation, Davy says the “little worlds in picture books” are essential. “Everybody needs quiet time, time to think thoughts and process them. Sure, I live for my kiddos, but my life is layered. I work full time to support my creative projects that include the Healdsburg Dance Collective, serving on the Healdsburg Arts and Culture commission, volunteering on the Oakland Ballet (archival) project.”
But she adds, “I have more books already in my head, playing around and receiving deep thinking until I can bring them out. I don’t know the how or when, but I’m sure it will happen.”
Gianna Davy appears at 2 p.m. March 16 at Barnes & Noble, Rosenburg Building, 700 Fourth St., Santa Rosa.
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