This book is a collection of prayers for children to match their moods or emotions. The picture book format is aimed at younger readers, but most of the prayers seem too abstract for early childhood readers. The prayers also assume more familiarity with Bible stories and characters than some readers will have. There is a list of biblical references at the end of the book, but I would have preferred to see this information on the pages with the associated prayers.

This review is based on an electronic advanced reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

A great deal of effort went into organizing this book. The illustrations are gentle, pleasing, and colorful.

Each type of prayer (based on emotions or situations a young child might find himself or herself in) is coupled with a supposed relative event or attitude of someone in Scripture (Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Ruth, Naomi, Jeremiah, Paul, etc.). The connections often seem forced (very often)--leaping and make projections about the heart and intent of people in the Bible that are not supported by Scripture.

That said, the categories of prayers (for sorrow, compassion, persistence, new situations, etc.) will help children understand they can pray about every situation they find themselves in or feeling they experience. That's a good thing. And pointing children to passages of Scripture so they can read about people who persevered through tough situations is also a plus.

But (for example) "pray like Adam and Eve" when they experienced the miracle of life." Where does Scripture record the prayers of Adam and Eve? Or, "pray like Moses when he went to Pharaoh (and things got worse)." What? The prayer that follows this statement has the child asking (at first) whether or not he/she did the right thing.

Or here's another example. "Pray like the people who saw the suffering of the beggar Lazarus." Where does this come from? Perhaps there are "Christian" legends, traditions, or embellishments we are not familiar with--but this certainly does not come from the biblical text. Or how about the book's connecting "comfort through baptism" with "Samuel, who knew God at a young age." We understand how someone from a particular church tradition might connect these two things. But we surely hope children don't come away from the book thinking that young Samuel was baptized or was a "Christian". And many Christians from traditions other than the author's will take issue with the premise.

Again, it's not the prayers themselves that we found so disturbing--they are honest outcries of feelings children experience. It's the connecting them to people in Scripture.

Fun and thoughtful prayers to share with kids. Wonderful illistrations. Would recommend this book.

This would be a good option for a church library. However, it wasn’t my personal favorite, so I stopped reading it, unfortunately.

There was something wrong with the copy I downloaded, and there was no formatting present. I was only able to view the text on a white background, so I cannot speak to the book's layout and illustrations. The content of this book is not for young children. It is paraphrases of Bible verses, but even the paraphrases would be difficult for young children to understand.

A little too much for my "young" child. Glad to encourage kids to pray over their fears and doubts, but I almost felt that the prayers were emphasizing these things rather than the goodness of God. When my little guy can't fall asleep I really don't want him praying "...do you really know me? It is dark. It is night." NO. I want him praying about how God DOES know him, and is the light of the world! I like the idea here, and I felt like the topics covered were applicable to all kids, but I wouldn't read them with my sons.