Bettye Davis''s first memoir, A Spanky Dale Fishy Catfish Day, begins in the sixties when Davis, now a young girl, journeys to Lake Washington with her mom, dad, and five siblings on a fishing expedition that ends rather abruptly. It is a narrative of an African American Southern family who briefly spends some wholesome quality time on the bank of Lake Washington, catching fish for dinner and relaxing prior to the unforeseen disruptive circumstances of the day.
The setting of the narrative takes place inside her bedroom as she overhears her father conversing with her mom concerning their plans for the day. Riding to rural areas were weekly excursions for the family. The journeys oftentimes involved fishing, gathering of wild greens in early spring, picking watermelons in the hot summertime out of the gardens of friends and relatives, or receiving cured, smoked pork for the cold winter months ahead. Everyday life experiences while growing up in the Mississippi Delta helped in the fashioning of fictional and nonfictional characters, places, and things in this book. The rhyming story in this book is written to discourage mischievousness and to inspire and promote a sense of humor that can be universally relatable and enjoyed, as well, by the intended audience.