When Litchfield author Gabriele Davis’ father and his siblings moved north from Lynchburg, VA, her Aunt Paulene brought along the family’s culinary traditions and one of them was a delicious peach cobbler, her father’s favorite.
Davis shares his love for ginger peach cobbler in the summer and peach cobbler enhanced by nutmeg in the winter, she bakes peach cobbler at home in Litchfield, where she’s lived since 1995 – and now peach cobbler is the key ingredient in her debut picture book, Peaches, illustrated by Kim Holt.
A book launch event takes place Saturday, May 11, at 10:30 a.m. at The Curious Cat Bookshop, located at 386 Main St. in Winsted. (See the Facebook invite.) Signed copies are available from the bookshop, where Peaches can also be ordered online.
Peaches tells a hopeful multigenerational story of love and healing centered on a girl who holds her mother’s memory close while carrying on an important family tradition: making peach cobbler together.
The publisher, Abrams Kids, elaborates:
Summer Sundays begin with picking.
Rosy-ripe peaches dipping low to the ground,
Sun-warmed and soft like Grandma’s lap.
Side by side with Daddy and Grandma, a young girl is determined to take part in her family’s tradition of baking the perfect peach cobbler—just like her mama used to. From picking fruit to stirring and mixing to kneading the dough, it’s a little bit messy. But with sure hands to guide the girl step-by-step—and her mother’s memory hanging sweet in the air—she has the recipe for making Mama proud.
This warmhearted and ultimately hopeful picture book shows that with a house full of love, everything can feel peach-perfect.
Davis, who has a master’s degree in magazine journalism, has been a children’s magazine editor and freelance language arts writer, and now works as a learning specialist at Indian Mountain School.
After her grandchildren were born, she began writing for children again, Davis explained in a phone conversation. She took an old manuscript, gave it a lyrical format, reduced the length to suit contemporary parameters for picture books, and then started entering manuscript contests like PBParty, in which she was a 2020 finalist.
The exposure to publishers and editors that came with being a finalist led to offers of representation and she signed with literary agent Joyce Sweeney. Within a couple of months, Peaches was sold.
A second book, Our Joyful Noise, will follow this coming October, published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers (Simon & Schuster). It’s described as a joyful, jazzy picture book following a Black family through a week of shared moments and simple pleasures, woven through with hidden musical jewels from spirituals and songs – and like Peaches, it was inspired by Davis’ memory of her father.
To learn more about Davis, see her website.