In Darcy Is Always First, children will learn how to show love and patience to their brothers and sisters, even when they annoy each other.
It doesn't matter that Darcy Duck is only a few seconds older than Delia and Denny—Darcy thinks she should be first at everything. That means that the ducklings always end up fighting to get their turn. Hurt feelings and anger abound until one day when their grandparents fly in for a visit. That's when Denny's determination to be first, ahead of Darcy, almost ends in disaster.
Edited by counselor Lauren Whitman, Darcy Always Goes First is part of the Good News for Little Hearts series that brings gospel wisdom and biblical counsel to families. Based on CCEF's model of hope and help, each story focuses on an animal family's real-life issues, encouraging young readers toward a growing relationship with Jesus during challenging circumstances.
AUTHOR
Lauren Whitman, MA, is a counselor and faculty member at the Christian Counseling & Educational Foundation (CCEF), where she has served for over a decade. She also serves as the developmental editor of the Journal of Biblical Counseling and is the author of A Painful Past: Healing and Moving Forward and A Biblical Counseling Process and editor of Henry's Big Mistake and Darcy Is Always First. Whitman, her husband, and their two children make their home in the Philadelphia area.
ILLUSTRATOR
Joe Hox was raised on a farm in southern Iowa where he doodled whenever he wasn't spading thistles or feeding pigs. Everyone knew by his crooked hay rows that he would choose art over farming. Joe earned his BA in art and education from Dordt College, and his MA from the University of Nebraska. Today he lives with his wife and four children in Pella, Iowa, where he illustrates and teaches art. Joe has illustrated all the Good News for Little Hearts series books.
“In Darcy Is Always First, Whitman helps children navigate the perennial problem of sibling conflict. In doing so, she helps children be rightly motivated to prefer one another because we all belong to one another. I cannot wait to get this book, snuggle up with my girls, and read it with them. Like others in this series, it will become a well-worn read for us all.”
Jonathan D. Holmes, Executive Director, Fieldstone Counseling; author of Grounded in Grace: Helping Kids Build Their Identity in Christ
“Sibling relationships are special but need to be fostered. Darcy Is Always First is a book for children grappling with self-centered tendencies that strain relationships. This story reminds us that instead of looking out for our interests, which causes quarrels, God tells us we belong to one another. Families, please read this together! You will catch a sweet vision of what showing Jesus’s love to one another looks like.”
Darby Strickland, CCEF Faculty; author of Something Scary Happened
“Having three kids, we are always looking for helpful stories to point our kids towards wisdom. Darcy Is Always First will occupy a place on our bookshelf, ready to be pulled out when sibling rivalries take over. (And it doesn’t hurt that it’s really cute!)”
Nate and Kate Brooks, Associate Professor, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Counselor & Support Group Leader, Courage Christian Counseling
“We can’t give enough attention to the greatest commandment and the example of Jesus in considering others first. Lauren Whitman’s book works great for helping us talk about these things with our little ones, and to hear it ourselves!”
Michael Gembola, Author of Anxious about Decisions: Finding Freedom in the Peace of God
“Darcy Is Always First takes me back to when my younger brother shocked me with the exclamation ‘You always have to be first!’ This story is a great tool for going in the ‘back door’ of sibling rivalry as a means of helping children recognize how they are hurting others and also gives the offended child a platform for expressing their feelings. I look forward to sharing it with our great-grandkids.”
Sharon W. Betters, Executive Director, MARKINC; coauthor of Aging with Grace: Flourishing in an Anti-Aging Culture
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Jayne V. Clark
CCEF
Paul David Tripp
Need some help addressing sibling conflict? In “Darcy Is Always First”, your kids get to follow along with Darcy, Delia and Denny as they try to compete with each other to be first. My 5 & 3-year-old boys were completely captivated reading this one, as they generally are with this series. The stories are incredibly engaging, the messages are rich, biblical and relatable and the illustrations always make me flip the pages just a bit slower as my eyes linger on the pages. Throughout the series, various characters show up in different books (something I love!), and if you pay attention, you’ll see super fun, creative real-life objects that Joe Hox works into the settings. We’ve actually spent time just looking at the pictures in these books and pointing out all the things to spot! These books always feature notes for parents at the back of the book for further discussion & help with the specific topic. I highly recommend this series and its latest release for your home - these are worth owning!! I received a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.
We have the whole series, and watch for new ones coming available so we can add to our collection. The stories are engaging, and as a mother I LOVE that scripture is used to help teach the lesson and point the kids/readers back to a God of love. I appreciate the helping points at the end and the pocket scriptures also. My daughter says them after me whenever we read the stories.
Lauren Whitman is one of my favorite professors at CCEF. I love the way she describes human feelings vividly, and provides both gentle and godly advices afterwards. Although it seems fair to say that there are many children books to address the topic of the sibling fight, I love the way which the author portrays the mixed feeling of the little Denny and Delia. It is so true that both little ones and adults want to be “the first,” but it is not the first thing that our God urges us to pursue. Instead, our heavenly Father urges us to love and show care to one another. In addition, I love the key verse this book used to address sibling fight: “In Christ we are one body. And each part of the body belongs to all the other parts.” (Rom 12:5) That is to say, since we are “in Christ,” we are connected together and are able to love one another.
I adore that Whitman chose to use the passage of the body of Christ in this story. I think that scripture needs to be applied to our families to help our kids grow up to apply it to the church. (down w/ individualism!) We have here 3 ducklings. The eldest is always first, the boy struggles with envy and the younger girl tries to keep the peace. I love that this series always demonstrates kids applying scripture to their lives. It has a devotional & scripture memory cards. BOON!