Friday, February 6, 2009

Prayer for a Child



Finished Prayer for a Child written by Rachael Field and illustrated by Elizabeth Orton Jones. It won the Caldecott Medal in 1945. Field wrote a poem for her daughter which was later developed into this picture book. The tone of the poem and the illustrations is very gentle. The pictures are soft and representational. Several show a little girl in her own room with a drawing she has done tacked up over the bed. The drawing is wonderfully juvenile, absolutely age specific for this little girl. Also, there is a line in the poem which reads,

"Bless other children far and near
And keep them safe and free from fear."

The accompanying illustration is of a crowd of children from many different races and nationalities, all standing together. An interesting drawing for 1944. I mentioned Orton Jones' display of diversity in her drawings in my post about Small Rain: Verses from The Bible in January 2009.

Rachel Field Won the Newbery Medal in 1930 for Hitty, Her First Hundred Years and the Newbery Honor Medal in 1932 for Calico Bush. Field also wrote novels for adults including All This and Heaven Too which was made into a film starring Bette Davis and Charles Boyer in 1938.

This was an interlibrary loan from the Wickson Memorial Library in Frankenmuth, Michigan.

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