Dr. Darcey by Headline Books / Zoom Into Books

Dr. Darcey teaches third grade at Fairview Elementary. Her students admire her beautiful room, her friendly smile, and her passion for teaching reading and writing. They have fun learning and enjoy her class but are bewildered by some of the strange happenings that seem to occur every day. Then Celia solves the mystery and figures out how to help her favorite teacher. Much love is shared in this classroom where Dr. Darcey and her students help each other learn and grow.

TAMMY DONAHUE

Tammy Donahue is a school teacher and speaker. She graduated from Marshall University and received her Master’s Degree from University of Virginia, an Education Specialist’s Degree from Virginia Tech, and her Doctorate Degree from University of Virginia. She is the recipient of the Excellence in Education Award – West Virginia Council for Teachers of English (2020), Excellence in Writing Award – West Virginia Council for Teachers of English/National Writing Project (2019), and Excellence in Education Award – Raleigh Register-Herald (2019). Teaching brings her great joy, as she has a natural love of children and a great desire to help them become their best selves. Her passion is teaching students to be confident readers and writers and to realize the power of literacy. Tammy is a native of Beckley, WV where she now lives with her family. For more information visit www.TammyDonahue.com.

DR. DARCEY

About the Author

Tammy Donahue

ILLUSTRATED BY

Alyssa Shea

Dr. Darcey

Tammy Donahue

illustrated by

Alyssa Shea

Dr. Darcey by Tammy Donahue illustrated by Alyssa Shea copyright ©2022 Tammy Donahue All rights reserved. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents, except where noted otherwise, are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any other resemblance to actual people, places or events is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any other form or for any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage system, without written permission from Headline Books. To order additional copies of this book, or for book publishing information, or to contact the author: Headline Kids P. O. Box 52 Terra Alta, WV 26764 Email: mybook@headlinebooks.com www.headlinebooks.com Lucas Kelly—Design/Layout Published by Headline Books Headline Kids is an imprint of Headline Books ISBN-13: 9781951556969 Library of Congress Control Number: 2022939029

PR I N T E D I N T H E U N I T E D STAT E S OF A M E R IC A

I dedicate this book to my gifted students who inspired me to write it and to those that suffer with hearing loss or other disabilities that may inhibit their communication with others.

Celia squealed as she ran back to her house. “Dr. Darcey is my teacher this year!” she called out to her mom. Celia had been waiting all summer to get her letter from Fairview Elementary telling her who her third grade teacher would be.

Dr. Darcey’s letter was outlined with beautiful flowers. It had hearts and wispy lines. She talked about the fun things her class would do this year. Celia could hardly wait, but she mainly wanted to be in Dr. Darcey’s class because she loved to write and Dr. Darcey loved to teach her students about writing. Celia sat down to draw a picture for her new teacher. She would give it to her on the first day of school. It was a picture of a colorful owl with glasses.

Celia packed her backpack and left it beside her bedroom door before getting into bed. The next morning, she was up early and ready for the first day of school! She checked her folder to make sure she had the drawing she had created for Dr. Darcey. She kissed her mom goodbye and ran to catch the bus waiting at the end of her walk. As soon as she reached school, Celia walked quickly to Dr. Darcey’s class. She found where she was supposed to sit. Her name was on a little sign with sunflowers that Dr. Darcey had made for each student.

She took her seat at the clover-shaped blue table. It had four fuzzy black chairs around it. There were beautiful lime green balls hanging in the windows, colorful bulletin boards, and live plants. There were lots of books organized in purple and black plastic bins. Colored pencils, crayons, scissors, and all sorts of art supplies were out for the students to use. Celia loved her new classroom!

Dr. Darcey greeted each student with a beautiful smile and a hug. She made everyone feel welcome. She talked about how the day, the week, and the year would go. Celia was excited! She could hardly wait to get her first assignment so that she could show Dr. Darcey how well she could already write. It was time to go to music class.

Celia placed her drawing on Dr. Darcey’s desk. She wanted to surprise her with her creative, colorful owl. She knew Dr. Darcey would love it.

After music, the students poured back into the room. Celia raised her hand. After Dr. Darcey acknowledged her, Celia said, “Dr. Darcey, Mrs. Pachuta said that we were great today!”

“Late?” Dr. Darcey asked with a worried look on her face. Then she asked herself, How could that be? We left in plenty of time! We didn’t linger in the halls! We didn’t get sidetracked! Oh, goodness! We will have to leave earlier tomorrow, she thought. Then she made herself a quick note as a reminder.

Celia and Ryder looked quickly at each other. Dr. Darcey’s remarks confused them, but they went ahead and got to work on their first assignment and soon forgot the strange response from their teacher. Celia hoped Dr. Darcey would be proud of their good behavior, but the thought soon left her mind as she busied herself with her work.

Everyone was writing a paragraph about the sights, smells, and sounds of fall. Dr. Darcey quietly walked around the room peering over her students’ shoulders. Celia was writing about roasting marshmallows over a campfire. She suddenly piped up again. “Dr. Darcey,” she asked, “how do you spell stick?”

Celia was surprised when, instead of spelling the word for her, Dr. Darcey ran to her desk and started writing a note. She quickly wrote a message and then directed Celia to go see the nurse. Even though she was confused, Celia went to the nurse as Dr. Darcey had directed.

“Why are you here, Celia?” Nurse Leigh inquired. “I’m not sure,” Celia admitted. “I asked Dr. Darcey how to spell ‘stick,’ and she sent me here to see you.” Nurse Leigh took Celia’s temperature, found it was normal, and sent her back to class.

When Celia got home that evening, her mom asked if she was okay. Celia said, “Yes, of course! I had a great first day of school!” Her mom said that she just wondered because Dr. Darcey had written a note in Celia’s agenda to her. The note read: “Dear Mrs. Parker, Celia said she was feeling sick today, so I sent her to the nurse. The nurse checked her temperature and sent her back to class. Please keep an eye on her to make sure she is okay.” Celia said, “No, mom, I wasn’t sick. There must have been some sort of misunderstanding.”

The next day, Celia could hardly wait to get back to class to share her fall story. She was so happy to see her friends and her new teacher again! Students began sharing their writings. Everyone was having fun until Stephen began sharing his tale about his father and him looking for a woodpecker in a tree. Stephen was reading with great expression and enthusiasm. He said he had been looking in the lower branches of a tall tree and his father told him, “No, look higher!”

At once Dr. Darcey started giving orders! “Everyone, line up! Don’t say a word! Walk quickly and quietly down the hall and through the doors!” She rushed everyone outside the building. All the students lined up perfectly. Then, after the class stood outside a little while, Dr. Darcey said it was safe to go back into the school. All of the students were bewildered, but they followed her instructions closely. No one quite understood what had just happened.

Everyone went to their seats and the class returned to their normal routine. One of Celia’s classmates, Chase, sat at her table. He was extremely shy. She never remembered him talking in class, and she had been with him since Kindergarten. He struggled in school and had difficulty reading and writing. Dr. Darcey gave him special attention, though. She encouraged him and gave him confidence. She believed in him. Each day when Dr. Darcey finished working with him, he muttered something to her. It was so faint, even Celia couldn’t hear him, but she knew he said the same thing every time Dr. Darcey helped him. She knew also that Chase only wanted Dr. Darcey to hear what he was saying. Each time he said it, Dr. Darcey looked carefully into his eyes and studied his face, but she never responded.

Celia thought for a long time. She thought about how puzzled Dr. Darcey looked when Chase was speaking to her. Then suddenly, she realized that Dr. Darcey could not hear what Chase was saying to her. She began thinking back on all of the strange happenings in Dr. Darcey’s class. When she asked how to spell stick, Dr. Darcey must have thought she said she was sick! And when her classmate read, “Look higher!” Dr. Darcey must have thought he said, “Fire!” And when Celia told her that Mrs. Pachuta said the class was great, Dr. Darcey must have thought that she said the class was late! Oh, goodness! Celia thought. Dr. Darcey cannot hear well. She is getting confused about what her students are saying. She realized Dr. Darcey had a hearing loss.

That evening, Celia thought and thought about what she should do. She didn’t want to tell her parents. She didn’t want to tell the nurse or the principal, either. She decided to write Dr. Darcey a letter. Celia took her time and wrote the best letter she could. She explained to Dr. Darcey she was concerned about her hearing and wanted her to get help. She decorated the letter with small pink hearts and placed it on Dr. Darcey’s desk the next morning.

Dr. Darcey did not respond to Celia’s letter. Celia worried that she had offended her teacher. It stayed on her mind for a couple of weeks. Then Dr. Darcey left class early one Wednesday afternoon. No one knew why. The next day, though, Celia knew exactly where Dr. Darcey had been. She saw that Dr. Darcey was wearing hearing aids. They were beautiful to Celia. She was so happy for her teacher. Dr. Darcey was happy, too. She read a note to the class telling them how thankful she was for the letter Celia had written to her. Celia felt pleased. She was happy for Dr. Darcey.

The day was great, and everyone was learning and having fun. Dr. Darcey helped Chase like she did every day. And when she finished, he softly spoke the words he always said to her. This time, though, Dr. Darcey heard what Chase was saying. She gently responded to him, “You’re welcome, Chase. I love you, too.”

TAMMY DONAHUE

DR. DARCEY

About the Author

Tammy Donahue

ILLUSTRATED BY

Alyssa Shea