Cali Davidson decided that she was going to put her money where her heart was — in helping children.

The mother of four children, all who have long ago grown up and flown the nest, and grandmother of five, Davidson has a soft spot for children.

The concept for her first childrens book, "Bad Dragonflies," stemmed from memories of watching her children play in the yard.

“I’ve also gotten a lot of good material from my grandchildren,” she shares.

As a child, Davidson spent a lot of time daydreaming, hoping to one day become a published author.

The name Cali Davidson is a pen name that she chose.

The Boone County author, who has lived on Low Gap Road for approximately 20 years, wishes to remain anonymous and composes her novels with the anonymity that having a pen name offers a writer.

Davidson says she loves West Virginia and having grown up here and wants to share her love of the state and for reading with children.

"Bad Dragonflies" is the title of her first book, a children’s story about a frog, an ant and a pond full of dragonflies.

But if you want to know more about that story, you’ll need to stop by the Madison Public Library this Friday, from 1 to 3 p.m. as Davidson holds a book launch party and signing.

Davidson wants to pass along more than a good, fun story. She’s decided that every penny of book royalties will go to St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital.

To clarify, that’s not 100 percent of every book sold during the book signing; that is every "Bad Dragonflies" book sold — period.

“Children have a real place in my heart and I feel sorry for the children who are sick in the hospital,” she explained.

“I see them on TV and those with cancer and this is my way of helping the world. I just kind of feel like a child advocate and that this is my small part, my little humanitarian effort.”

Illustrations by Berin Uriegas complement Davidson’s story and will surely delight young readers.

“I’ve had people say that teachers are going to love it,” she said. “The publisher picked an artist to illustrate the book. I checked his web site out and found that he did wonderful illustrations.”

According to Davidson, the process of writing “Bad Dragonflies” took a couple weeks.

“I’m pretty fast once I got the idea.”

However, it then took a couple months to edit the manuscript and a couple years for the entire publishing process.

“I attended an online

conference, but a conference nonetheless, and met my

publisher there. She was asking for submissions, so I sent her the manuscript. She said that she doesn’t normally publish children’s books, but she fell in love with this one,” Davidson recalls.

"Bad Dragonflies" is published by Swimming Kangaroo Books, located in Texas.

Davidson’s books can be purchased by contacting the publisher or placing an order with Amazon.com.

Davidson says there is a

second book in the works, “An eyeball in my garden and other spine-tingling tales,” and is slated for a July 2010 release.