When Daddy Prays
Name of Book: When Daddy Prays
Author: Nikki Grimes
Illustrator: Tim Ladwig
Publisher: Eerdmans Books for Young Readers
Audience: Ages 4 and up
Summary: A series of poems about prayer and what prayer says about life experiences. A series of poems that speak to life experiences are taught and enriched by prayer.
Literary elements at work in the story: The story is told through the eyes of a son speaking about his father. It uses a relationship between a father and son to provide concrete examples of prayer and life.
How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economic/ability make a difference to the story? The story uses an African-American family and situations that are specific to the culture. It also shows elements of various socio-economic situations within the culture. The story focuses primarily on the males in the family.
Scripture: Romans 8:26
Theology: Prayer is our personal expression of love to God. When we pray we are calling on God with confidence that God hears and answers our prayers. Just as Jesus Christ prayed for himself, his disciples and all whom God loves, we are encouraged in prayer for ourselves and others. Even when we do not know what to or how to pray, God hears us through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Faith Talk Questions:
- What does your Daddy pray for you about?
- Does your Mommy pray?
- What do you pray about?
- Why do you think that the Daddy prays in front of the son?
- What do you think the son learns when he hears his Daddy pray for him and his family?
- Do you pray for your Daddy?
Review prepared by Katie Todd, MDiv/MACE, Entering Cohort Fall 2005
When Daddy Prays by Storypath is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.