Hi! I’m Raighne Davidson. I’m the creator of Vonawood Forest, the magical home of the ‘Portal Combat’ books.

When I was a child, my grandmother (everybody called her Mimi) told me the fairy tales ‘Goldilocks’ and ‘Little Red Riding Hood.’ Back then, I remember wondering how Goldilocks could make such a mess and not get in trouble. And as to Little Red, did people actually think a little girl would be fooled by a wolf wearing a ruffled hat and some tiny glasses? I recall my little-girl self feeling deeply insulted by that story. I knew I was smarter than that. I knew my friends were smarter than that. Why weren’t these stories about smart and brave little girls? After I had my own children, I wanted to share in the storytelling Mimi passed down to me, but I wanted to do it in a way that felt empowering to its characters and meaningful to my children. So I reimagined these stories when I told them to my children at bedtime - I gave the characters names, personalities, best friends, families, favorite bands, hobbies, struggles, difficulties, victories, etc. It was wonderful fun and I didn’t want us to forget the stories I’d shared. So I began writing them down.

As I wrote, the stories expanded and Vonawood Forest came into existence. Mimi’s first name was Vona, so naming this space in honor of the woman who first told me the stories I loved so much seemed quite fitting. And I like to imagine that she is happily having a lovely afternoon tea with all of her favorite forest friends (especially the mice - how Mimi adored the field mice with big ears), but anyone - bunny, mouse, squirrel, fox - dressed in a sunny yellow gingham dress with matching bonnet or a trim little robin’s egg blue vest with shiny buttons and a sweet bow tie is welcome to join anytime. She’ll have lemon cookies and buttermilk pancakes and sweet tea ready for all!!