DAY IS DONE

Gentle prayers and blessings and pleasing illustrations in muted hues coalesce into a soothing bedtime collection in this British import.

A sleeping crescent moon in a cobalt blue, starry sky is the focus of the illustration on the book’s attractive padded cover. The collection of 30 prayers begins with a rhyming prayer about twilight and the coming dark of evening and with an illustration of a multiethnic group of children leaving a beach as the sun is setting. Subsequent prayers and illustrations show different children at home getting ready for sleep, reading with parents and asleep in bed, and the final prayers lead to daybreak and the promise of a new day. Some of the prayers are traditional favorites, such as the familiar “I See the Moon,” “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep” and a well-known Gaelic blessing, while others are short selections by 19th-century British authors. All the selections are Christian prayers, and there isn’t much inclusion from outside Great Britain, except for one short selection from Blessed Teresa of Calcutta (formerly Mother Teresa). The majority of the prayers are contemporary, rhyming verses with an overall calming effect complemented by cozy illustrations of sleeping children and animals.

A lovely, thoughtfully designed collection to help settle the little ones for the night.