May we present the amazing and beyond-gracious Danielle Davis...

Ever since beginning this nErdCamp journey, we've been bowled over and humbled and pleasantly amazed at the generosity of people in this community.  So many people have graciously given us their time, their ideas, their social media presence and connections; they've donated books {autographed ones, at that}, stickers, images, you name it...(the list goes on and on!).  This is all our way of saying THANK YOU to our nErDCamp crew!  You are all making this such a fulfilling and fun process.

Danielle Davis is certainly one who has gone above and beyond to support our efforts thus far.  Here is her beautiful entry on "Why She Writes!"  Enjoy!

Why I Write (Danielle Davis, author of Zinnia and the Bees)

I write because I’m a Story Person.

Stories help me make sense of things: feelings, experiences, the world.

It started with reading “Hansel and Gretel” and Benjamin Dilley’s Thirsty Camel as a
kid by myself in my bedroom. And then my fourth grade teacher in Singapore,
Toby Anderson, reading Roald Dahl books aloud to us while we sat on beanbag chairs
in her classroom: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, The
Witches.

In stories, I found characters who had agency and autonomy, who had inner compasses
about who to trust and about trusting themselves. In stories, I found comfort and
validation and hope. I found possibility and a little bit of magic, my favorite ingredient
in a story still. Those stories made me a reader, and later, a writer. They made me a
Story Person.

Now, I find all that stuff in writing stories too.

And my wish is that the books I write might do all that for kid readers in some small
way. Help make sense of things they’re going through, of the world. Strengthen their
own agency and autonomy and inner compasses. Give them comfort and validation
and hope (and laughs!). Fill them with the possibility of a little bit of magic.

I write because I’m a Story Person.

Are you a Story Person too?

Above illustration lovingly created by Genielysse Reyes

📚                       🐝                      📚                                  🐝

Below photograph cleverly done by the author herself