Davis, Donald (D.) 1944-

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DAVIS, Donald (D.) 1944-

PERSONAL: Born June 1, 1944, in Waynesville, NC; son of Joseph (a banker) and Lucille (a teacher; maiden name, Walker) Davis; married Merle Smith (a teacher), April 16, 1992; children: Douglas, Patrick, Kelly, Jonathan. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: Davidson College, B.A., 1966; Duke University, M.Div., 1969.

ADDRESSES: Home and offıce—Storyteller, Inc., P.O. Box 397, Ocracoke Island, NC 27960.

CAREER: Christ United Methodist Church, High Point, NC, minister, 1967-89; storyteller, lecturer, and writer, 1967—. Appeared at numerous storytelling festivals, conferences, and teachers' workshops in the United States and abroad, including National Storytelling Festival, Sierra Storytelling Festival, and Three Apples Storytelling Festival.

MEMBER: National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling (member of board of directors, 1982-89; board chair, 1983-89).

AWARDS, HONORS: Anne Izard Storyteller's Choice Award, 1992, for Listening for the Crack of Dawn, and 1994, for Jack Always Seeks His Fortune; D.H.L., La Grange College, 1994; selected for "Circle of Excellence" by National Storytelling Association, 1996; South Carolina Middle-School Young Reader's Award, for Listening for the Crack of Dawn.

WRITINGS:

recorded stories

Storytelling Festival, two volumes, National Association for the Preservation and Perpetuation of Storytelling, 1983.

(With Pat Floyd) Old Testament Stories to Hear andTell, Graded Press (Nashville, TN), 1983.

Live and Learn, Weston Woods (New York, NY), 1984.

Jack Tales: More Than a Beanstalk, Weston Woods (New York, NY), 1985.

Listening for the Crack of Dawn, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1991.

Rainy Weather, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1992.

Jack's First Job, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1992.

Uncle Frank Invents the Electron Microphone, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1992.

Party People, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1993.

Miss Daisy, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1993.

Christmas at Grandma's, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1994.

The Southern Bells, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1994.

Walking through Sulphur Springs, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1995.

Jack and the Animals: An Appalachian Folktale, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1995.

Grandma's Lap Stories, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1995.

Mrs. Rosemary's Kindergarten, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1995.

See Rock City, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1996.

Stanley Easter, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1997.

Granny Ugly, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1997.

Dr. York, Miss Winnie, and the Typhoid Shot, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1997.

Braces, August House Audio (Little Rock, AR), 1999.

Grandma's Boy, August House Audio (Little Rock, IL), 1999.

The Pig Who Went Home on Sunday: An AppalachianFolktale, illustrated by Jennifer Mazzucco, August House (Little Rock, AR), 2001.

other

My Lucky Day: Stories of a Southern AppalachianStoryteller, Johnson Publishing (Chicago, IL), 1984.

Listening for the Crack of Dawn, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1990.

Barking at a Fox-Fur Coat, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1991.

Jack Always Seeks His Fortune: Authentic Appalachian Jack Tales, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1992, reprinted as Southern Jack Tales, 1997.

Telling Your Own Stories: A Guide to Family, Classroom, and Personal Storytelling, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1993.

Thirteen Miles from Suncrest, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1994.

Jack and the Animals: An Appalachian Folktale, illustrated by Kitty Harvill, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1995.

See Rock City: A Story Journey through Appalachia, August House (Little Rock, AR), 1996.

Writing As a Second Language, August House (Little Rock, AR), 2002.

Also author of My Uncle Frank Used to Say. Contributor to books, including Jack in Two Worlds, edited by William Bernard McCarthy, University of North Carolina Press (Chapel Hill, NC), 1994. Contributor to periodicals, including Utne Reader, Teacher, Parenting, Time, and Mother Earth News.

SIDELIGHTS: Although he has published a variety of books for adults and children, Donald Davis considers himself foremost a storyteller. Born in the mountainous region of western North Carolina in 1944, Davis told Robert Jordan of the Winston-Salem Journal that storytelling was an element of his daily life growing up, particularly as part of his relationship with his Grandma Walker. "My grandmother did lots of telling," Davis recalled. "I remember hearing those stories, and I remember by the time I was in the second grade telling other kids in school stories I'd heard my grandmother tell."

Davis's storytelling led to several successful publishing outlets, including the use of audio recordings. His stories have been recorded on more than thirty albums and videotapes. Some of his recorded works feature the ubiquitous fairy tale figure of Jack. Well-known from such stories and nursery rhymes as "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Jack and Jill," this hero stars in Davis's audiocassette Jack's First Job. Retold as part of the Appalachian oral tradition, Davis's rich versions of various classic tales demonstrate the importance of humor in children's stories and the endearing, universal qualities of Jack.

Jack also appears in Davis's written stories, including Jack and the Animals. Davis sets this Scottish parallel to the Grimm Brothers' tale "The Bremen Town Musicians" in the Appalachian Mountains. Using simple, direct language, he recounts the story of Jack's adoption of five animals, all of whom seem to have outgrown any usefulness. He happens upon an aging cow, for example, and learns that she can no longer produce milk. She and the other animals join Jack on his adventures in search of fortune. When they happen upon a band of robbers, Jack and these formerly valueless creatures foil their lawless plot and save the day.

Many of Davis's other writings are rendered from more personal sources. In his novel Thirteen Miles from Suncrest, he presents a slice-of-life story set in the mountains of North Carolina early in the nineteenth century. Its narrator, Medford Henry McGee, was born at the turn of the century. On his tenth birthday his father gives him a journal, and Medford chronicles his experiences between the years 1910 and 1913 in the pages of his diary. His stories record the gradual encroachment of the "modern world" into the western regions of North Carolina. Judy Sokoll, writing in School Library Journal, observed that "Medford is a captivating narrator—sensitive, trusting, loving, natural, and filled with wide-eyed curiosity about the world. All of the characters are wonderfully created and the sense of a simpler time is masterfully crafted." A Publishers Weekly critic likewise praised the work, noting that "the novel's themes—hardship and tragedy set against the strength and beauty of family love—prove affecting and timeless."

See Rock City: A Story Journey through Appalachia represents another of Davis's forays into the history of his native North Carolina. Transporting the reader to 1948, the year Davis entered kindergarten, See Rock City follows his life and the tales of his family through his second year of college.

As Davis mines the tales of his life, retells the classic stories of the past, and creates his own legends, his activities as a writer and traveling storyteller show no sign of slowing. In fact, he believes that both of these occupations are common aspects of life for everyone. As he told Jordan of the Winston-Salem Journal, "Any time you tell somebody about a place you've been that you wish they could go, you're telling a story. A lot of it is just realizing that it is a very natural process."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Booklist, September 15, 1994, p. 111; October 1, 1995, p. 322.

Kirkus Reviews, July 1, 1994, p. 864; April 15, 1999, Lolly Gepson, review of Braces and Grandma's Boy, p. 1560.

Publishers Weekly, August 8, 1994, review of ThirteenMiles from Suncrest, p. 380.

School Library Journal, January, 1995, Judy Sokoll, review of Thirteen Miles from Suncrest, p. 183; January, 1996, p. 100; September, 1996, p. 240.

Winston-Salem Journal, November 24, 1995, article by Robert Jordan, pp. C9-10.