VALDOSTA — Book store customers will find “A Surprise for Marvin” this weekend.

Valdosta evangelist and author Dr. Wanda Alexander Davis will be at WaldenBooks Saturday signing copies of her children’s book, “A Surprise for Marvin.”

Davis is a busy author. Ask her about her book, and she asks, Which one? The poetry book, the mystery book ...

But “A Surprise for Marvin” is her first book. The book has been published and has garnered attention from churches, schools and an edition in Germany.

“A Surprise for Marvin” is about two young men named Marvin and Tommy and their eventful trip to a fair. This is literally a picture book. Davis doesn’t use the traditional drawings seen in most children’s books. She uses a series of photographs to tell her story.

The story was inspired by her life and observations.

The direct inspiration for the story’s location came from a carnival photograph she saw in The Valdosta Daily Times. As a child, she couldn’t go to the fair, she says. With her parents in the Holiness faith, they didn’t believe in going to the fair.

“I didn’t have a lot coming up as a child,” Davis said in an interview earlier this year. “There are children today who don’t have a lot. They come from broken homes, and they don’t want to show any of it. I want to show that it’s OK not to have a lot.”

Davis is from Madison, Fla. She now lives in Valdosta and has taught in Lakeland for 30 years. She has written throughout her life. She writes poetry for herself, family, friends and occasions in their lives. Her sister, Gloria, encouraged her to write books.

She feels “A Surprise for Marvin” and her other planned books are changing her life.

“I never thought I would be famous and known nationally and internationally,” Davis said, “but it’s happening.”

“A Surprise for Marvin” is available through amazon.com; publisher Xlibris Web site; or by ordering it through Davis at wddavis@mchsi.com.

Davis is scheduled to sign her book, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday, WaldenBooks, Valdosta Mall.