Devoted Family Stories · Book 1 · Week 1: Love
Ava Loves First
Ava loves to give. Then two baby brothers come home, and nobody is looking at her signs. So she tries something BIG: forty-two heart cookies, the biggest bouquet Maple Lane has ever seen. None of it works, until Mrs. Okafor asks a question over the garden fence: Who loved you first?
A sweet, gently funny picture book about where love comes from and why it gets bigger every time you give it away. Based on 1 John 4:19, "We love because he first loved us." Ages 4 to 8, 32 pages, 8.5 x 8.5 inches, full color.
A look inside
Maple Lane, in watercolor
Every book ends with a Talk about it page: three questions for young children, one for older siblings, one "Live it out" idea for the week, and the line that ties it back: This is Week 1 in Devoted Family Character Discipleship.
How the series works
Read the week. Then read the story.
One story per value
Fifty-two weeks in the devotional, fifty-two picture books, matched week for week. The week's key verse is on the title page of its story.
The Maple Lane kids
Eight neighborhood friends and Biscuit the dog. A different child leads each book, so every family meets a lead like theirs within a few titles.
Made for bedtime
A 500-word story a tired parent can read in five minutes, soft watercolor art, and a conversation that lasts longer than the book.
Batch one
The first twelve
- 1Ava Loves FirstLoveReady for print
- 2Eli and the Slowest SeedPatienceIllustrating
- 3Mia and the Leaf Pile FibHonestyIllustrating
- 4Noah Knows Almost EverythingHumilityIllustrating
- 5Naomi Builds It KindKindnessIllustrating
- 6Leo Draws BraveCourageIllustrating
- 7Hannah Counts to EnoughGratitudeIllustrating
- 8Sam Builds a WallSelf-controlIllustrating
- 9Mia Loses CountForgivenessIllustrating
- 10Noah Gives the Blue OneGenerosityIllustrating
- 11Eli Finishes SomethingDiligenceIllustrating
- 12Ava Asks the One Who KnowsWisdomIllustrating
Books go on Amazon as they are finished, starting in time for families who begin Week 1 in January. A personalized edition of each story, with your child as the lead and your child's name in the text, is coming as a print-at-home download.
Opens an email. One note per new book, nothing else.
A note on the art
The illustrations are created with AI image tools and art-directed, selected and edited by Crystal; the stories are drafted with AI help and rewritten by her. Every book says so on its copyright page, and every one is read aloud at the Jeske kitchen table before it goes to print.