Barnyard Prayers - Hardcover

Laura Godwin, also known as Nola Buck, is the author of many popular picture books for children. Born and raised in Alberta, Canada, she now lives in New York City.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Beginning with "The Farmer's Prayer" and ending with "The Farmer's Benediction," this book shows typical farmyard animals and insects praying according to their natures. The selections are more respectful than religious in tone. Adults will appreciate the many double meanings, some of which children will also enjoy. The cow prays its stomachs aren't bigger than its eyes, for example, and the drones pray that God will save their queen. Some poems are juxtaposed, such as the fox's prayer for hens to eat that appears on the same page as the hens' prayers at the realization that one of their number is missing. The bright, primary-colored acrylic illustrations bring the book to life. The opening selection is illustrated with a picture of a small boy with his toy farm. In the succeeding pictures he enters into a fantasy in which he joins living animals. The second to the last poem is the sheep's prayer to "help me count myself to sleep," followed by illustrations that move readers back into the boy's city bedroom, with him asleep in a bed covered with farm toys. The sense of playfulness and the comforts of the toy farm are winningly evoked in the glow of the illustrations. This title should be popular in collections where bedtime stories for young children are in demand, although parents should be forewarned they will be expected to read all 19 poems before a sleepy child will turn off the lights.
Barbara Chatton, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie
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