Book Review—God Gave Us Prayer

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God Gave Us Prayer gives kids and parents a sweet and helpful model for learning to pray.

When Little Pup discovers Mama praying silently by the lake, he’s full of questions. What do we do when we pray, and what do we say? Do we only pray to tell God we love him, or are there other reasons to talk to God?

Mama gently answers every question, and Papa does too when he joins the conversation. Together they model four kinds of prayer: adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication (ACTS). The little family talks about God’s forgiveness, his provision and protection, and how he meets our needs and the needs of others when we pray.

Little Pup’s friends have questions about prayer too. Can we tell God about our feelings? What do we do when we don’t know what to say? When we’re worried, afraid, jealous or lonely? What if we’re too embarrassed by our bad decisions? Can we pray to be the best student in class or the best on our team? Does God heal sick people when we pray? Can we pray to be more like Jesus?

As she answers these questions, Mama suggests sample prayers, and there are prayer prompts for kids to personalize.

Most picture books that are primarily conversations fall flat. The conversations in this book (and all the God Gave Us series) avoid that pitfall because they flow so naturally and fit the action in the illustrations so well. Mama and Papa are excellent models for any parent wondering how to answer their children’s questions about prayer. Plus, their prayers throughout the book provide wonderful examples for us all.

One of my favorite parts of the book:

“If God knows everything,” Little Pup asked, even what’s in our hearts and minds, why do we need to say anything at all?”

“Well, I know a lot about you, and you know a lot about me,” Mama said. “What if we never said anything to each other? How would that feel?”

“Kinda lonely,” he admitted.

“Right. God wants a relationship with us, so he want to hear from us!

Little Pup takes Mama and Papa’s teaching and example to heart and proves he’s a good learner when he prays. Children who read God Gave Us Prayer will want to do the same. I highly recommend this book! The suggested age range of 3-7 feels right to me.

God Gave Us Prayer
written by Lisa Tawn Bergren, illustrated by David Holm
published by WaterBrook (2021)
hardcover picture book, 56 pages, 8.7 x 0.4 x 8.8 inches

Making God’s wonders known to the next generation,

– Diane

10 Responses to “Book Review—God Gave Us Prayer”

  1. Reply Krystal Conrad

    Hi Diane! Long time fans of yours here. 🙂
    As you know, my daughter is on the spectrum. Over the past several years we have read through ‘Words to Dream On’ many times and currently we are reading ‘I Am : 100 Devotions About the Names of God’. We read everything night. (We’ve also read through ‘I Am: Bible Stories About the Names of God’!
    My daughter is now 7 years old, however, in some areas she’s around about a 5 year old level. I always pray in front of her, over her, and then she prays. She trails off after a few words and says amen but it’s a great start, I’m glad she WANTS to pray, and I never do any “critiquing ”. I just say something like “very good!” Sometimes she says in her limited words “help me pray?” So, I simplify my words and she repeats after me. We would love this book! She’s just getting into wanting to sit and read (trying to read) on her own and asking me to “read it?”. It’s an exciting season for us!
    God recently put it on my heart to start encouraging her about baptism. So if you have any age appropriate resources to help her understand I would be grateful if you could point me in the right direction!

    • Reply Diane Stortz

      Krystal, your support means a lot to me! And I’m glad your daughter is doing well.
      If I learn about any baptism resources for you, I will let you know!

  2. Reply amy linderman

    this is so sweet. love the illustration. it reminds me of my grandmother tucking me in at night at saying prayers.

  3. Reply Kaila Wisecarver

    Enjoy your newsletters and the coziness of your site and emails!

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