Lavinia Riker Davis was an American author of picture books, teenage novels, and mysteries for children and adults. She wrote over forty books, mostly under her own name, but sometimes using the pseudonym

Pseudonym

A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 "Wendell Farmer".

She also wrote short stories

Short Stories

Short Stories may refer to:*A plural for Short story*Short Stories , an American pulp magazine published from 1890-1959*Short Stories, a 1954 collection by O. E...

, some published in The American Girl, The American Boy, St Nicholas and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc...

.

One of her illustrators, Hildegard Woodward, was twice awarded the Caldecott Honor for her illustrations to books written by Lavinia R. Davis, Roger and the Fox in 1948, and The Wild Birthday Cake in 1950.

Selected bibliography

• Hobby Horse Hill (1939) (illus. Paul Brown
  Paul Brown (disambiguation)
  Paul Brown was an American football coach and owner.Paul Brown may also refer to:* Paul Brown , Georgia politician* Paul A. Brown , Louisiana politician...
  
  )
• Buttonwood Island (1940) (illus. Paul Brown)
• We All Go Away (1940) (illus. Dorothea Warren)
• We All Go To School (1941) (illus. Dorothea Warren)
• Plow Penny Mystery (1942) (illus. Paul Brown)
• A Sea Between (1945)
• Roger and the Fox (1947) (illus. Hildegard Woodward)
• The Wild Birthday Cake (1949) (illus. Hildegard Woodward)
• Donkey Detectives (1955) (illus. Jean MacDonald Porter)
• Island City: Adventures in Old New York (1961) (illus. Jean MacDonald Porter)

Crime Club

• Evidence Unseen (1945)
• Barren Heritage (1946)
• Threat of Dragons (1948)

As "Wendell Farmer"

• The Surprise Mystery (1943) (illus. Alice Harvey)
• Bicycle Commandos (1944) (alt. title Bicycle Detectives) (illus. Alice Harvey)
• Fish Hook Island Mystery (1945) (illus. Ninon Macknight)