Riverdale author Tina Tomato finds inspiration in childhood memories and a love of wordplay

Over several decades, E. Tina Davy has built a reputation as a neighborhood entertainer, landing her roles at children’s birthday parties and putting on scavenger hunts in local parks. Now, the longtime Riverdale resident is bringing that creativity to children’s books under the pen name Tina Tomato.

Her debut book, “Mary Had a Little Jam,” was published last year. “Mary Had a Little Clam” and  “Mary Had a Little Tam” followed this year, continuing the whimsical adventures of a young girl whose experiences introduce small readers to larger lessons — like when Mary learns jam is best enjoyed in moderation.

“It makes you smile. Just simple. I love words. I love alliteration, and I like things that make you laugh,” Davy said of her pen name.

The impulse to tell stories dates to her childhood in Jamaica, she said, where her grandmother, Lydia, raised Davy and the family’s other grandchildren while their parents pursued careers abroad.

“I had a good childhood,” Davy said, recalling how her grandmother took the kids around the dining table to draw, then helped them turn their pictures into kites using sticks and string.

Those activities, Davy added, helped shape a lifelong approach to entertaining children, which often involves making something together or turning an ordinary outing into an adventure.

At about 11, Davy moved to Riverdale to join her parents. Her sense of whimsy continued to flourish, particularly after she was given skates for Christmas. She learned to skate at the former rink at Skyview on the Hudson, the North Riverdale co-op where her family lived.

Writing remained a constant, however. Davy composed personalized birthday, engagement and retirement cards with humorous rhymes whenever the opportunity appeared.

“I’ve been writing my whole life. I’ve been writing for people my whole life. My whole life,” she said.

Her debut into book writing however, began as a care package for her best friend’s granddaughter, Noah, whose family had moved away to Boston. Knowing Noah’s love for drawing, Davy began sketching out a character, Mary,  with crayons and pencils and wrote a story to accompany the pictures.

When she shared it, family members encouraged Davy to publish her work.

“One day, it’s my dream. It’s my dream. It’s always been my dream,” she recalled telling them.

For her heroine, Davy borrowed the rhythm of a familiar nursery rhyme but substituted different adventures.

“Mary had a little lamb. I couldn’t write about Mary who had a little lamb. That’s been done,” she said.

After “Mary Had a Little Jam” was born, neighborhood pop-up markets helped make publication possible. Davy bought a children’s book from a local author and learned she had self-published through Amazon. She asked a next-door neighbor, a teacher, to help with the computer work.

Davy’s illustrator worked overseas, but Davy entrusted her with developing Mary’s appearance. The first drawings arrived while Davy was riding the subway. Seeing Mary dressed in shades of pink brought tears to her eyes.

When an email confirmed that her book had been published, Davy could hardly believe it.

“I sat up in bed. It was Sunday, and I just couldn’t believe it. I kept reading it,” she recalled.

Beyond writing, Davy pursued dance, roller skating and a career in fitness. She managed gyms and spent 10 years as an assistant athletics director and fitness center director at what is now the University of Mount Saint Vincent. She also performed in a six-person roller-skating group and volunteered to teach seniors at Riverbank State Park.

Davy also estimates she has cared for more than 100 children, babysitting for local families and entertaining at parties, sometimes dressed as characters including Princess Leia.

Today, she carries her books on buses and subways, sometimes reading to children she meets. When children grow restless, she said, she offers to read and reaches into her bag for a book.

At a recent market, a mother recognized Davy as the woman who had calmed her daughter by reading aloud on a bus.

Davy hopes to publish more Mary adventures in the future.

“We all have that inner child in us,” she said.