Say a Little Prayer, by Alicen Felder
My review: ★★★★
This is an inspirational book for children. The author, Alicen Felder, was born with developmental delays. As a result, she had difficulty learning to talk, and went through speech therapy to learn to speak clearly. When she completed speech therapy, she was a much more confident speaker. She was so inspirational that even as a child, people were inviting her to speak at various programs across the country. The book ends with thankfulness for God’s gift of speech.
The book is a little unpolished; the artwork appears to be an attempt to put photos or drawings of real faces onto hand-drawn figures. But it’s not something a child would really mind. In fact, it’s a bit endearing, because the message is that a child does not need to be as polished as everyone else they see in order to be perfect.
The young readers who would benefit most from the messages in this book would be children who are themselves working through developmental delays or learning disabilities, especially those who are discouraged. This book is also valuable to all young readers as a reminder that not all children have an easy time learning, but all children have value.
