This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano

We’ve been teaching Sunshine about praying for quite a while. Often, before we each lunch together, she looks at me and asks, “Pray?” She knows to fold her hands and to say “Amen” at the end. So when we sat down to read This Little Prayer of Mine by Anthony DeStefano (illustrated by Mark Elliott), I was pleased when she pointed at the first picture and said, “Pray!” Yes, the two kids are praying together.

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group. This post contains affiliate links; as an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

This Little Prayer of Mine overview

This Little Prayer of Mine is a beautiful, rhyming child’s prayer. The pictures show children of a variety of ages, mostly early elementary (the target audience for the book). Sunshine was very excited by a picture of a kitty on one page. Each page has only two to four lines of poetry on it, allowing the story to move quite quickly—it held Sunshine’s interest.

An older child could probably read the book by themselves. The pictures would also provide further discussion prompts for parents of older children.

While Sunshine liked the pictures and the pace of the rhymes, I appreciated the depth in the prayer. The child moves from making requests (“Whenever I feel really scared / and want to hide my head, / please help me to be brave and strong / and face my fears instead”) to thanking God “for a bunch of other stuff.” The child also talks about sharing God’s love with others and asks for God’s guidance.

Teaching Children to Pray

Teaching children to pray can be hard. Even as adults, we may struggle with talking to a Person we cannot see. Prayers may feel like one-sided conversations that we aren’t sure how to start. This Little Prayer of Mine provides parents and children with an outline, ideas for starting their own prayers. The children in the book offer a model for other children to learn how to converse with God.

Overall, This Little Prayer of Mine is a delightful little book that I’m sure Sunshine will cherish for years to come—and I won’t mind reading to her every time she asks for a book. It makes a great addition to bedtime prayer time (as the cover suggests) or anytime reading with your child.

Other than breathing, there is nothing more important for any child to learn – and learn deeply and well – than to pray. Talking with God should be as easy and natural as breathing, and as necessary. What a blessing Anthony DeStefano’s little book is! ~ Pat and Shirley Boone, Entertainers

More about Anthony DeStefano

Anthony DeStefano is the best-selling author of twenty Christian books for adults and children, including Our Lady’s Wardrobe, I Just Can’t Take it Anymore! and Little Star. He hosts a TV series, A Travel Guide to Life, on the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). He is also a pilot, businessman, and long-time pro-life advocate who has worked with Fr. Frank Pavone. To find out more about him or his books, drop by his website.

The Seed Who Was Afraid to Be Planted is another beautiful rhyming story by DeStefano that brings alive Jesus’ parables about seeds.