Grandad's Prayers of the Earth - by Douglas Wood Paperback

About the Book

Winner of a Christopher Award and a Book Sense 76 Top Ten Pick. After his grandfather dies, a little boy finds comfort in remembering Granddad's explanation of how all things in the natural world pray and, in this way, add to the beauty of life. Full color.

Book Synopsis

"Wood conveys a sense of something larger in the world, and gives voice to the human longing to understand." -- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Grandad is the boy's best friend. Being with him always makes the world seem right. And how vast that world is: a world of tall trees that reach for the clouds and sun and moon and stars -- and what else is reaching for heaven but a prayer? Each time he and Grandad walk in the woods, the boy listens for the prayers of the earth. And finally the boy asks: "Are our prayers answered?" One day, long after Grandad is gone, long after the boy is grown, he understands Grandad's reply: "If we listen very closely, a prayer is often its own answer." Douglas Wood, author of Old Turtle, has written a wise and moving story for all ages, beautifully illustrated by the acclaimed P.J. Lynch.

Review Quotes

"The deeply naturalistic watercolors portray the wild exquisitely, and the boy and grandfather are timelessly rendered in jeans, corduroys, and plaids. Some of the spreads are stunning: a close-up of the boy in the grass with a tiny clover in his fist, and only Grandad's knees visible; or a ground-level view, looking up, past the upturned faces of the pair to the sun shining through the trees above. This is a depiction of the spiritual that is without reference to a particular faith or tradition, and that doesn't lapse into greeting-card platitudes; Wood conveys a sense of something larger in the world, and gives voice to the human longing to understand." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Douglas Wood is the author of numerous books for adults and children, including the highly acclaimed and bestselling Old Turtle, which won the ABBY Award for 1993 and was named IRA Book of the Year. Of Grandad's Prayers of the Earth, he says, "I feel I've been getting ready to write this book all my life, for it is about my wise and gentle hero, my Grandad. It's a prayer and a thank you, a walk in the woods and a remembering smile; and it is for anyone who has ever had a woods to walk, a prayer to whisper, a hero to love." Douglas Wood lives with his family in a log cabin on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minnesota. This is his first book for Candlewick Press.

P.J. Lynch is the renowned illustrator of many children's picture books and has twice been awarded both the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Christopher Medal.