A CHILD’S BOOK OF PRAYERS

This sweet and traditional collection includes 25 children’s prayers and poems with a Christian theme. Most of the selections are short prayers, many of them familiar graces or bedtime prayers such as “I See the Moon” and “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep.” Most of the prayers are just four lines long, making this collection quite accessible to preschoolers. The poems and prayers are nicely integrated into the volume’s design in two ways, either skillfully worked into the illustration on a blank wall or on a patch of sky, or else set off on ivory panels that stand out from the art. Kangas uses children of many ethnicities in her appealing illustrations in pencil, watercolor and oil wash. She shows children in their cozy homes and yards, playing with toys, feeding pets and enjoying meals with extended family members. The overall effect is both charming and soothing, ending with bedtime prayers and a goodnight poem by Victor Hugo. A fine choice for a baby gift or as a child’s first book of prayers for a home library. (Nonfiction. 2-5)