An accessible and even fun book of useful prayers for the modern kid.
Routine activities are grounded in childlike faith demonstrated through everyday prayers and guileless optimism.
A brown-haired, beige-skinned girl with the first initial E, who readers might assume shares the name Emme with the 12-year-old author, takes them through a day of simple and sometimes profound prayers. She starts her day with prayers for the motivation to leave her warm, cozy bed, to get out the door on time, and to pay attention in school. E prays to develop her patience, honesty, gratitude, and self-discipline; she prays for her family, friends, and pets; and she even throws in a quick prayer for her favorite animal, the sloth. The author’s note reveals that the prayers were inspired by her own daily prayers and how the simple practice of praying throughout the day has brought peace. While the author may not be a household name, her parents (Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony) are, yet despite her famous family the book is endearingly down to earth. Figueroa’s cartoons depict E in a comfortable but fairly unremarkable suburban setting; readers will enjoy seeing E’s sloth-themed décor as well as dog Lady and bunnies Nibble and Skittles. The everyday activities that inspire E’s prayers are sure to resonate with many readers, as will the encouraging message to trust God with the small stuff. The full text of the traditional bedtime prayer “Now I lay me down to sleep” appears at the end. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads viewed at 30.3% of actual size.)
An accessible and even fun book of useful prayers for the modern kid. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 29, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-12008-8
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
Adults will do better skipping the book and talking with their children.
Social-equity themes are presented to children in ABC format.
Terms related to intersectional inequality, such as “class,” “gender,” “privilege,” “oppression,” “race,” and “sex,” as well as other topics important to social justice such as “feminism,” “human being,” “immigration,” “justice,” “kindness,” “multicultural,” “transgender,” “understanding,” and “value” are named and explained. There are 26 in all, one for each letter of the alphabet. Colorful two-page spreads with kid-friendly illustrations present each term. First the term is described: “Belief is when you are confident something exists even if you can’t see it. Lots of different beliefs fill the world, and no single belief is right for everyone.” On the facing page it concludes: “B is for BELIEF / Everyone has different beliefs.” It is hard to see who the intended audience for this little board book is. Babies and toddlers are busy learning the names for their body parts, familiar objects around them, and perhaps some basic feelings like happy, hungry, and sad; slightly older preschoolers will probably be bewildered by explanations such as: “A value is an expression of how to live a belief. A value can serve as a guide for how you behave around other human beings. / V is for VALUE / Live your beliefs out loud.”
Adults will do better skipping the book and talking with their children. (Board book. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-78603-742-8
Page Count: 52
Publisher: Frances Lincoln
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2019
Younger audiences may be mostly interested in the bonking and stinky parts, but the rudiments are at least in place for...
Ten tales from the Old and New Testaments, with plot points and lessons hidden beneath large, shaped flaps.
Higgins depicts Jesus as a bit larger than those around him but otherwise draws him and the rest of the cast—including angels—with similar-looking round heads, wide-open eyes, slightly crooked beards (on the men), and dark brown or olive skin. Cycling arbitrarily among various tenses, the abbreviated, sanitized, and informally retold episodes begin in “a garden” with the tree, most of Adam and Eve, and the “tricky serpent” who “will trick them” initially hidden beneath die-cut flaps. Lifting the largest reveals the disobedient first couple sporting flashy animal-skin togs and text that promises that “God had a plan to save people from sin.” After Noah boards the “crowded, noisy, and stinky” ark, Moses leads the escape from plague-ridden Egypt (“Frogs and locusts! Yucky sores and flies!”), and “David bonks Goliath.” God’s promise eventually bears fruit with the birth and select miracles of Jesus. In the climactic scene, three distant crosses hide beneath a flap that depicts Jerusalem, while behind a tomb in the foreground an angel literally fizzes with fireworks. Beneath a bush readers see Mary (Magdalen) weeping until the risen Jesus (beneath another bush) gives her a hug: “Go tell the disciples that I am alive!”
Younger audiences may be mostly interested in the bonking and stinky parts, but the rudiments are at least in place for homiletic discussion. (Novelty/religion. 4-6)Pub Date: Sept. 4, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5064-4684-4
Page Count: 16
Publisher: Beaming Books
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
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