Reviewer Conny Withay:Operating her own business in office management since 1991, Conny is an avid reader and volunteers with the elderly playing her designed The Write Word Game. A cum laude graduate with a degree in art living in the Pacific Northwest, she is married with two sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren.
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Author: Susan Case Bonner
Publisher: Kid Niche Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9852712-0-6
Author: Susan Case Bonner
Publisher: Kid Niche
Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-9852712-0-6
In the Bible, it states in Philippians 4:6 “… but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be known unto God.” In Susan Case Bonner’s much-needed book for children, My Whole Self Before You, the teaching of how to pray to God is explained and examined in a more simplistic yet meaningful way.
This forty-three page, hardbound book has a photograph of a young boy looking upwards against a green background on the front cover with five small children’s hands folded in a praying position and a paragraph about the book’s contents illustrated on the back cover. It is geared toward pre-school age and below but can be taught to any age group who is interested in simple yet thoughtful prayers to God. Since there are no scary or questionable scenes or topics, it is a perfect book to read or be read to at bedtime or during quiet time. Photographs of different people doing different tasks are portrayed in the prayer section while stain glass depictions are in the lesson section. This reader wishes all pronouns in regard to God were capitalized out of reverence.
Wanting to encourage her two young children to pray genuinely and more often, author Bonner models the first half of the book after the Lord’s Prayer set in a rhyming pattern. After a page to parents and teachers, twenty three pages are devoted to the straightforward prayer that a young child can learn and repeat often. Photographs of children being kind to others, parents interacting with their children, and three that portray selfishness, pouting and greed highlight the prayer as it coincides with the original Lord’s Prayer format. Next there are fifteen pages that are a learning guide with eighty lessons, breaking down the poetic prayer and applying it to Biblical truths with listed verses that can be looked up and discussed with the child. Lastly there are two pages dedicated to the prayer life of Jesus with fourteen Bible passages to consider.
This is a wonderful way to encourage a young one to understand both God and Jesus more personally and how He is always there for us, at our side and hearing our prayers. Because the photographs are so expressive and eye-catching, any child can easily understand why to pray and what to pray about when talking to God. With all the different avenues, a child can be challenged and grow in his or her walk with Christ through this comprehensive, substantial Biblical book.
