Customer Reviews

Grandad's Prayers of the Earth

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This wonderful book is deeply spiritual without advocating any one religion. A Christian family could read it together and take as much from it as a Jewish or Pagan family could.

A simple walk in the woods with Grandad plants the seeds of prayer in a young boys heart, seeds which help him grow when his grandad has passed and feels very alone.

"Each living thing gives its life to the beauty of all life, and that gift is its prayer," Grandad teaches gently.

The words are a bit difficult for the very young, but the gorgeously detailed watercolor illustrations seem to facinate all. I would recommend this book to all families who experience a loss of a loved one or who wish to introduce their children to prayer. Bereaved adults might also benefit from this book; reading it brought back memories of my father and walking and talking with him.

Buy this book for your children and read it to them for yourself. You won't regret it.

Like Wood's book, Old Turtle, this story is more for adults than for the children they'll read it to - the illustrations (a different illustrator) are beautiful, using soft autumn watercolor tones to illustrate grandfather as he speaks with his grandchild about nature, spirit and the connection all people have to one another.

Essentially this is a book about loss, dying and eternal life. It can be a beginning point for a discussion with older children (ages 8 - 16 or so) who have experienced a loss of any beloved friend or family member.

If I had grandchildren, I'd want to have the hardcover book available for them to read. The book is written to offer room for people of nearly any faith (even agnostics) to begin a discussion the meaning of life and dying.

Heartfelt and warm, without going overboard on the emotions. I especially liked the way this book showed the love of the Grandfather for his grandson and vice versa. It's portrays a lasting and wonderful relationship. Perfect for my teenage boys. One of the best picture books I have read. I am sure this will become an instant classic that will stand the test of time. Douglas Wood's writing is concise with perfect timing, he carries the reader immediately into a quiet walk where you can practically smell meadow flowers and hear the trees growing. P.J. Lynch's illustrations are more than beautiful, they carry the tone perfectly and add individual touches of poignant reality to the script.

Truly this is one of the most beautiful children's books I've read in years. The illustrations are gorgeous, capturing both the awesome splendor of nature and the love between the boy and his grandfather. The message is one of spirit, communion with nature, love, and communication. No religious path is specified and none need be. The message this book contains is universal. Ralph Waldo Emerson would have loved it.

What a wonderful book for any child (or adult)! I really enjoyed the warm relationship that the boy had with his granddad. The closeness that they shared was really touching. I liked the way the prayers were described--I never looked at prayer in that light before. It really got me thinking, and I felt really good after reading this book.

This book touched my heart. My three sons are all in their twenties now, but they shared many such adventures with their grandfather. You can feel the love the grandad and grandson share. The lessons on respect for the earth, faith, and prayer are all presented in such a wonderful way. It made me cry, as I could relate it to my sons' grandfather and the lessons he taught my sons. The illustrations in the book are beautiful and so appropriate for the story they help tell. What an addition this would be to anyone's library.

The Buddha teaches that the more that one says about enlightenment (or about god), the less accurate it is. No, this book is not specific, dictating what prayer is, who prayer should be directed at, or what major words should be repeated until they have no meaning. This book is about prayer. It is about silence. It is about seeing god in all creation. It is about aesthetics. Hesitant with dogma, but abundant in beauty, this book was a marvelous tool to discuss what prayer means with my children.

The beautiful words and the captivating images provided in Douglas Wood and P.J. Lynch's Grandad's Prayers of the Earth is a gift to individuals of all ages. The peaceful water color images, depicted by Lynch, create a dream-like memory book of a story recalled by a grandson. Throughout the story his grandfather points out the elements of nature, which together all offer prayers and a gift of beauty to life. The child, as does the reader, strains to listen for the "prayers of the earth." As the grandfather and grandson continue to discover the beauty around them the warm hues in the pictures reflect the love, safety and peace offered by the verse-like text. When the grandfather passes on the young child struggles to find the comfort he once felt on those walks with his grandfather. It is not until the child grows older and learns how to listen, as his granfather taught him, to the prayers of the earth that he finds that peace once again.
This book imbeds many elements of prayer including how to pray and the different ways prayers are offered. However, it is not only a lesson in prayer. It is one of remembering a loved one and the internal struggle that is felt when a loved one is lost. This struggle is one a person of any age can relate to.
Douglas Wood and P.J. Lynch have captured a story of love; love between a grandfather and his grandson, between a man and the natural world, and between a greater being and oneself.

A boy spends time with his grandfather walking in the out of doors. As he grows, he asks his grandfather about the nature of prayer. The grandfather explains prayer in terms of the way nature reaches upward. Later he talks to his grandson about the prayer of humans, and how prayers are answered.

When the boy becomes an adolescent, his grandfather dies and no amount of prayer will bring him back to life. For a time, the adolescent abandons prayer. Eventually he again experiences prayerfulness out in nature.

Families of different religious and humanistic backgrounds can use this story to explain man's experience of the infinite. The book and its illustrations deal sensitively with nature, love and death. This illustrated book is appropriate for children and adolescents.

I love this book. The illustrations are gorgeous! I love how the boy starts out as a young boy and at the end of the book he is a teenager...this isn't a book for little kids, in fact I'd say it would be over the heads of most kids under age 9 or so.

I did not find it to be "new agey" at all. The author has purposefully written it so that people of all faiths can enjoy it. Yes, there is a section where the Grandad suggests that prayer is not just to get what we want...but to help us change ourselves. That is the theology I've been taught...after all, God doesn't need our prayers...He already knows what we need before we ask. Prayer is as much for our benefit as for anything God gets from it.

This idea is depicted in the end. After the Grandad dies, the boy is so sad that he stops praying. After awhile, he prays again, and feels a peace that he has been missing since his Grandad's death. I recommend this book highly...especially if you teach 9-12 year olds in church. It's a great supplement to a lesson about prayer.