Cindy: In a world that is programmed to focus on discord, disgust, and disappointment, we need daily reminders to focus on the good. To look for the helpers. To be grateful. Prayer books for young children abound, but not everyone prays the same way or wants to pray. Thank You For My Dreams: Bedtime Prayers of Gratitude (Andrews McMeel, 2019) by HSH Prince Alexi Lubomirski and sons is a new book that fills a gap in this category even with the word prayer in the title. In Lubomirski’s introduction, he answers his son’s question about prayer this way: “I explained that saying ‘thank you’ to God or the universe (or whatever he wanted to call it) was very important.”
The book’s format is a single thank you statement on each page, organized in three sections (morning, day, evening), and dictated by one of Lubomirski’s two sons. He said they struggled to name more than five items to begin but quickly warmed up to the bounty of items we can be thankful for each day:
Thank you for our tongues that help us to taste things like vegetables, bananas, and spicy sauces.
Thank you for my feelings, so that I know when I feel happy or sad or angry or silly.
Thank you for electricity so that we can have lights in our house even when it is dark outside, so we can see each other and read books and play.
Tracey Knight’s silhouetted diverse figures grace brightly colored backgrounds and are coupled with a childlike font to create a graphic-art style that is simple, clean, and appealing for its intended young audience. Mentions of meditation practices, healthy eating, and environmentally friendly actions infuse the thank yous, in a child-authentic way, but there are plenty of silly thank yous as well. The author’s profits from the book benefit Concern Worldwide.
Thank You for My Dreams will appeal to families that enjoy Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Gmorning, Gnight!: Little Pep Talks for Me & You (Random House, 2018) with Jonny Sun’s line illustrations. Surely, it will serve as a springboard to start your own family gratitude practice.
I’m thankful for authors, illustrators, marvelous publishing teams, bookstores, and libraries. How ’bout you?
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