Maw Books

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Saying Grace: A Prayer of Thanksgiving by Virginia Krull and illustrated by Timothy Ladwig is a lovely new book on the importance of prayer and gratitude for our blessing.  Although saying grace or blessing our food wasn’t a new idea among early American settlers and the custom was practiced as early as biblical times, this author gives a fictional rendition of how prayer might have started in North America during the 1600’s with an early settler named Grace.

Eight-year-old Grace is worried about the upcoming harsh winter.  And for good reason, last winter many people died including her own grandmother, her mother gave birth while her father was lost in a blizzard.  Winter frightens her.  As the season is upon them, Grace reads Psalms in the Bible where God takes care of even the birds and that He will take even better care of his children.  With a child’s perfect faith she prays, “Please send us a gentle winter.”  Her prayers were answered, no blizzards came and before they knew it spring had  arrived.

Later that fall, during harvest time, a new settler told them of a custom to gather together as a community and to share a harvest feast.  For Grace and her family, it would be their first Thanksgiving.  After preparing pies, turkeys, pheasants and other delicious dishes, they all sit down and begin to dig in.  But Grace knows that something isn’t right and shouts, “Wait!  Shouldn’t we first say thank you to God and ask a blessing?” The next morning as they sat down to breakfast, Grace’s father says, “Say it Grace” from which comes the phrase “saying grace.”

The author’s  note at the beginning of the book provides a few prayers that are good for children as well as scripture references that also make wonderful prayers.  My family blesses our food before each meal and this will be a great book to solidify to my children why we call on God and thank him for our bounteous blessings, not only this time of year but all year long as well.

Links of interest:  Illustrator Timonthy Ladwig website, more book blogger reviews.   Saying Grace: A Prayer of Thanksgiving is a  fiction picture book Cybil’s nominee for which I’m a panelist.
Genre: Fiction Picture Book, approx age 4-8.
Publisher: Zonderkidz.  September 1, 2009
Hardcover, 40 pages. ISBN 0310712106
Saying Grace: A Prayer of Thanksgiving is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

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