Say & Pray Devotions: First Words, Devotions, and Prayers is a cute little board book written by Diane Stortz and Illustrated by Sarah Ward. Every page turn brings a new scene that includes a statement for teachable moments, a relevant Bible verse (or phrase), and a simple prayer of just a few words. Several objects and/or actions are annotated for further teaching. Of course, this is what many of us do when reading with children—pointing to things and asking what they are or asking the child to point out something—but this may aid in literacy. My only real complaint is the repetition of annotation. With the illustrations provided, there’s no reason to annotate the same thing anywhere in the book. That’s just lazy.

The illustrations aren’t my favorite, but tiny tots don’t really care about style. However, I’m not sure that a yellow blob labeled “eggs” is very helpful (perhaps sunny side up would have been better illustrated than scrambled). I also may be making too much of this, but when the white family is large and happy and even includes a handicapped child in a wheelchair while black families included a single mother and child (even coming out of a church building), I think there’s room for criticism in its underlying social commentary.

It’s a nice idea, but I wouldn’t pay for this book in particular.

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookLook Bloggers book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”