by Roger Hutchison (Author), Ag Jatkowska (Illustrator)
When words are hard to find, prayer blooms in unexpected ways.
Sparrow wakes each morning, ready to sing a prayer of thanksgiving. But not today. Today his words get tangled and knotted in his beak like old yarn and straw. He feels sad and gray, and he's not sure why. So Sparrow decides to ask his friends Turtle, Mousie, and Buck for advice on how to pray. Each friend shows Sparrow a different way to pray without words, through generosity, art, and movement. As the day ends, Sparrow meditates on a rose aglow in the evening light and has an epiphany: Every living thing does what God created them to do. Each life is, itself, a prayer of thanksgiving. Often, the most powerful prayers do not include words. Lyrical and unique, Sparrow's Prayer is a tale about an unexpected and life-changing encounter with the holy.
Backmatter includes an author's note with a reflection and suggestions for using different senses to pray.