May 06, 2009 
by Rebekah Sanderlin
Melissa Davis had a quote from Toni Morrison stuck in her head: “If there is a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, you must be the one to write it.” Davis, a parent, a teacher and a grown-up Army brat, couldn’t find the book she wanted to read, so she wrote it herself.
Growing up in a typical military family, Davis had to move around a lot. Each time they moved her parents tried to ease the process by getting Davis and her brother excited about their new home and by following the same family traditions everywhere they went. But the process was still very difficult for them and there weren’t any resources to help children adjust.
Davis wrote her book, “Home is Where the Army Sends You,” to be that resource for military kids. The book, her first, will be released in June and focuses on a military family that is moving to Fort Bragg, NC. She will release second and third books later this year about moving to Fort Rucker, Ala., and Fort Hood, Texas, respectively and she is planning to publish a “Home is Where the Marine Corps Sends You” book about moving to Camp LeJeune, NC early next year. Eventually she would like to publish books about moving to every American military installation.
Davis said she wrote the book to appeal to children in a wide range of ages. Children in the pre-kindergarten to 2nd grade range can read the book aloud with their parents and those in the 3rd grade and older can read it to themselves. The book follows the Applebottom family, Sgt. Applebottom, his wife and his two kids Kristy and Steven. They are ordered to move to Fort Bragg so they decide to learn lots of cool things about their new post. Davis says that kids who already live at Fort Bragg will enjoy reading about the things they already know and they will probably learn some new things, too.
There is another goal that Davis has for her books: She wants to use them to help educators and others learn about the unique challenges military kids face.
“If a child is staring out a window and not concentrating on a math test, the teacher is going to assume that the child just isn’t paying attention,” Davis said. “But maybe the child knows that is the day she’ll learn where her family is going to move next and she is worried about going to a new place and leaving all of her friends behind. Maybe if the teacher understands what that is like, she will be more understanding.”
Davis said she believes that being a military kid means belonging to a subgroup of children, with different needs and experiences than other kids. She hopes that people who work with military kids will read her book and gain a greater understanding of the challenges faced by military kids. Davis also hopes the book will give military parents a tool to use to communicate with their children about moving.
“I can empathize with these children,” Davis said. “I’ve been there. I wish I had had a book like this.”
Mostly, though, she hopes that kids will read her books and get really excited about their next duty station.
“I want them to go to bed dreaming about it,” she said. “If they already live (at Bragg), I want them to be excited and proud. I want them to be really excited about all the places in the book that they will get to see and all the places they’ve already been.”
You can read more about Davis’ book, pre-order copies and make donations (so that FRG’s and other organizations can buy copies for military kids) at
http://www.homeiswherethearmysendsyou.com.