When I Pray For You by Matthew Paul Turner

The Synopsis:

When I Pray for You celebrates the dreams, hopes, and longings parents pray over their children, and shares with the little ones how much care and concern a loved one feels for them.
This is a book you will read to your child again and again. Perfect for any occasion, as well as for milestones including baby showers, birthdays, and graduations.

I received this book from the Waterbrook for the purpose of this review. All comments and opinions are entirely my own.

Review:

When I Pray For You is a sweet book to read to your kiddos or grandbabies as a reminder of your undying love for them. More than just a book that talks about “now”–when they’re little– this book even tells the kids about your unconditional love throughout their future as preteens, teens, and adults.

I loved the rhyming of the words and how the illustrations perfectly captured the feeling of the book–peaceful and welcoming. The words are easy to understand for littles though they may not understand the older teen references at the time. It is a book that would likely commit itself to one’s memory over time and if read often enough, I could easily see it being remembered as the child grows up, almost like a song.

One aspect that I didn’t care for was the mention of teens and their stereotypical attitudes in the story and that it was spoken about as if the child would be expected to act like that without the option or opportunity to avoid it. Yes, typical teens do have attitudes but expecting them to be difficult and telling them that they’re going to be difficult, even from a young age, hardly seems to give them any other option to be that one-of-a-kind teen. But I believe that is simply a minority personal preference.

Overall, I liked When I Pray For You and give it 4 out of 5 stars. Recommended for ages 2-5.