Prayer Is

As a family gathers around the breakfast table, joins hands, and bows their heads in prayer, a child opens one questioning eye to the scene: “We pray./ But what is prayer?” In the following pages, Fryer Brown and Harris gently expand the notion of prayer beyond one of petition, offering reassuring text and warm-hued slice-of-life vignettes. The practice is defined variously: as expressing “what’s deep in our hearts,” as comfort, as hope, as forms of mindfulness and listening, and more. And while prayer can often come easily, the text suggests, it can also be challenging, especially “when we’re mad,” as in a scene that finds a child lying, frustrated, in bed. Through it all, the concept emerges as one component of connection to loving community—and “a gift from God that everyone gets to use.... No matter who we are/ or what we do.” Characters are portrayed with brown skin. Ages 4–8. (Jan.)