Customer Reviews

This Little Prayer of Mine

5 star:		(89)
4 star:		(53)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

God cares about every detail of our lives. This book, in a sweet rhyming format with brilliant illustrations, demonstrates to children just how much. It helps children see they can pray and depend on God for everything.

Sent this to 4 and 6 yr old. Their mom says they have read it every night since getting it (about 1 wk now).

I applaud Mr. DeStefano for this beautifully written book. It is never too early to teach our little ones about God and the importance of prayer and This Little Prayer of Mine gives us the perfect tool to help begin these important conversations with our children.

Literally soaking in this truth, I am splashing my children as well. Isn't this a foundation for everything, to know, dance, and breathe in His love. Imagine my delight when a children's book This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano arrived in my mail. The delightful pictures danced into my heart and I began to read. The last page ripped my heart and I knew it would NEVER be read in my home.

Whimsical text, colorful snapshots of childhood complete with tossled hair and puppy kisses adorn the pages. A simple heartfelt prayer of a little one, revealing how our Abba God delights in the details of life and created childhood to delight all of us. Dreams, mistakes, childhood wrapped in words. Sweetness like "But most of all I'm grateful for your love that never ends" made me smile.

This book almost won my heart and was read to my boys, until alas, I turned to the last page. A simple phrase, seemingly harmless "I'd like to ask again. Please love me God, forevermore" cut to my core. Such a simple mistake, but one that would not be read in my home.

We don't ask God to love us, He already does! We cannot plead for Him to love us forever. He IS love. He created it. It is His nature to love us always. He cannot change who He is. Maybe it's because of all I am learning. Maybe it is because of this mommy's heart fighting to only represent the TRUE nature of God to my boys. Maybe it's because I am wrapped in His love and I only want others to be as well. His love that never fails and cannot be asked for because it already exists in such enormous measure, we just need to believe it.

This Little Prayer of Mine: A Review

April 8, 2010 by sruszkowski | Edit




I was excited when I received This Little Prayer of Mine from WaterBrook Multnomah PUblishing Group to Review for them. Prayer is so important to me and my family and I am always looking for ways to teach my son how to pray for himself. A children's book seemed like such a resource.

Let me start with the positive aspects of this book. First, the illustrations are absolutely beautiful. My son and I both really enjoyed taking in all the pictures and talking about what they conveyed. Second, this is a very easy to read book that speaks to children on their level about God and how to speak to him in a personal way.

Unfortunately, the negatives outweighed the positives in our household. While this book is easy to read and written for children it also dumbs down theology. I am a firm believer that there is no need to dumb down the truth of the Gospel for our children. They are more in tune than we give them credit for. God is portrayed in a generic fashion. There is absolutely no mention of Jesus, his death and resurrection, and his saving grace that makes it possible for us to pray directly to God in the first place. I was especially upset at the very last page of the book. I did not like at all that the book ends with the child praying for God to continue loving him/her. What?! Of course, God loves him/her and has never stopped loving. In my mind that conveys that God's love can be earned and that is so far from the truth.

If you are looking for a short, sweet book to teach your child about prayer from a simple, generic standpoint this is an excellent book and I recommend it. If you are looking for a meatier book, I do not recommend it.

This Little Prayer of Mine is beautifully illustrated. It is a great tool in teaching young children how to talk with God. There is not a more important thing that a child can learn than to pray. This book will help you and your child develop a relationship with our heavenly father. I recommend it as a staple in your child's nighttime reading collection. It's not too short, and not too long! It's just right for a bedtime story!

Anthony DeStefano wants to teach children how to pray. And he succeeds. As parents, we want our children to understand the power and personal communication that prayer is supposed to be. DeStefano uses the child-like prayer in this book to illustrate how open and honest children can be when they pray to God. As far as prayer books go - this has to be the best one that I have read. It is real. Thoughts that a child would have. Thoughts that a child should know that God wants to hear. I like how this book demonstrates a conversation with God. Truly, that is what prayer is. My favorite part of this book is the illustrations. While reading with our children, we spend a lot of time looking analyzing the characters in the story - how are they feeling, why are they feeling that way, what fruit of the Spirit is this person showing or not showing. Even in the simple illustrations, there is a lot of discussion available. The reservation that I have with this book is the last words where the child prayers that God will always love them. A child never has to pray this. No matter what they do, God will always love them.

A new children's bedtime book for believers of Jesus Christ has just been released by Random House publishing company. Written by Anthony DeStefano and illustrated by Mark Elliot, children can be read their bedtime prayer before closing their eyes for sleep.

Written in rhyme, DeStefano provides an indirect guide for children's prayers and each idea is beautifully illustrated in the style of Audrey Wood's children's books, such as The Napping House.

The first set of rhyme incorporates the child asking God if He will hear his prayer, since he is "just a child". This could be disturbing to some, given the fact that we are to 'become like little children' to enter the kingdom of God and Jesus scolded the disciples for thinking they needed to shoo the children away when they approached Him. It seemed strange to begin the book/prayer as if children (and I'm sure some may) aren't sure if God is listening to them.

This Little Prayer of Mine touches on subjects of sadness, loneliness, and other feelings and emotions with which children struggle and can pray about. It guides a child to pray for the present and future. The rhyming works for the most part (which all children love it a book), except for the very last page, where I felt it lost its rhythm and was a little off at the very end, leaving me, as the reader unfulfilled in terms of an all around, well-written children's book. However, the child being read to most likely won't notice, especially if the reader is prepared to make the glitch (I felt) in the rhyme work.

As in the beginning I had an issue with children questioning whether God listens to their prayers, I had another issue with the end in somewhat the same manner when it reads, "Please love me God, forevermore..." This didn't sit right with me in terms of God's love isn't conditional - there isn't a point where he quits loving us for any reason and I felt it leaves doubt to question His unfailing love. I felt it could have been worded better.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

I know you're up in heaven, God,
And can hear my voice from there.
I'm just a little child.
Will you answer my short prayer?
(from back cover)

THIS LITTLE PRAYER OF MINE is a totally delightful book that illustrates how to pray and trust God to answer our prayers, no matter what our age.

The book has engaging rhymes and beautifully done illustrations, and teaches our children that God is always near, listening, and eager to respond to our requests. They'll also learn that prayer isn't all about asking for stuff, but also for giving thanks for what God has already blessed us with.

I thoroughly enjoyed this cute little book and read it to my eight-year-old and five-year-old, and they were both completely captivated by the story. They wanted me to read it to them over and over again.

If you are teaching your children about prayer, or are just looking for a cute little book to put in your child's Easter basket, then THIS LITTLE PRAYER OF MINE is an excellent choice. Highly recommended.

The book is clearly written for a young child and is not a heavy tome. The illustrations are pleasant. The book contributes to assuring an important part of faithful life when shared by a parent.