Best for parents looking for a sweet nighttime prayer ritual to share with toddlers and preschoolers.
It’s the end of the day and time for little ones to head to bed and say their prayers.
This offering is a long nighttime prayer in verse offering thanks to God for everything good in a child’s world. This includes the bright blue skies and songbirds of a new day, “creatures great and small,” foods from the garden, friendship and music, and “home, sweet home.” The poem also offers thanks to God for his love, care, wisdom and guidance: “You teach me to be kind, / To be patient, good, and strong. / You guide me on the path / To know what’s right from wrong.” The lengthy, singsong (and occasionally clunky) verse isn’t likely to keep children engaged, but it might successfully help ease them into peaceful sleep. The illustrations depict cuddly baby animals—a dog, kitty, bear and lamb—and, in a few instances, a caregiver or two joining in the fun. The cheerful scenes have a soft, quiet quality that contributes to the offering’s overall soporific effect, as does the padded cover reminiscent of a cushy blanket.
Best for parents looking for a sweet nighttime prayer ritual to share with toddlers and preschoolers. (Board book. 2-6)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-58925-606-4
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Sept. 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2014
A sweet, colorful start for a Christian spiritual journey.
A cheery child gives thanks to God.
“When I see a rainbow / High up in the sky / I say a little prayer of thanks, / And here’s the reason why: // Because God loves me!” This board book’s focus is the comforting notion that God loves all his children, and no matter what, he will always look out for them. The text follows an ABCB rhyme scheme, breaking after every stanza to repeat the phrase “Because God loves me!” The small, light-skinned child has spiky brown hair and wears a dress; both the child and a chubby accompanying dog are appealingly illustrated with a bright, simple color palette and scratchy lines that appear to have been made with colored pencil. God is the only name given for the deity, implying a primarily Christian audience. The book’s message is clear, and its construction is sturdy, suiting this well to parents who are beginning to have conversations with their little readers regarding their beliefs.
A sweet, colorful start for a Christian spiritual journey. (Board book. 2-4)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-58925-237-0
Page Count: 24
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: Nov. 13, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A simplistic, outdated take on Diwali for young children.
It’s Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, and Binny can’t wait to tell her class about her favorite holiday.
On their way through their North American suburb to school, Binny’s mother wishes her luck and reminds her to tell her class about the oil lamps that are a central part of their family’s Diwali tradition. But when Binny’s teacher, Mr. Boomer, invites her to share, Binny freezes, overcome with shyness. Taking a deep breath, she remembers her mother’s advice. The thought of the world filled with light—symbolizing the triumph of good over evil—gives Binny the strength she needs to tell her family’s Diwali story. While the book is thorough in its description of traditions like wearing new clothes, eating sweets, lighting lamps, and decorating floors and sidewalks with colored powder, the prose is clunky and clumsy, and Binny’s conflict is resolved so quickly that the story arc feels limp and uninteresting. Other elements of the text are troubling as well. Calling Binny’s new clothes an “Indian outfit,” for example, erases the fact that the kurta she wears is typical of the entire South Asian subcontinent. The use of most fireworks, which the author treats as an essential part of the holiday, is now banned in India due to concerns about pollution and child labor. Most problematically of all, the author continually treats Diwali as a Hindu holiday celebrated by “everyone,” which is untrue in India or in diaspora and which dangerously equates Hindu and Indian identity. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10-by-20-inch double-page spreads reviewed at 49% of actual size.)
A simplistic, outdated take on Diwali for young children. (Picture book. 2-5)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-338-36448-4
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Scholastic
Review Posted Online: June 29, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2020
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