OF ALL MY BOOKS this has long been my favorite
OF ALL MY BOOKS, 40 of them now I guess, this has long been my favorite. At least among my children’s books, or those considered cross-generational. Even more than ‘Old Turtle.’ It is the story of my relationship with my Grandad, my childhood hero. It’s also about finding spirit in the natural world, of which we are a part. It’s about love, and loss, and grief. And it’s about renewal. The book was winner of the Christopher Medal, not a small thing, for books and media ‘that affirm the highest values of the human spirit.’ I’m thinking about my Grandad today, and about prayers…
‘When I was little, my Grandad was my best friend. Being with him always made the world seem just right. Grandad and I liked to go for walks in the woods together. We didn’t walk very far. Or very fast. Or very straight. While we walked, I would ask him questions about things I wasn’t sure of. ‘Why is it, Grandad,’ I would ask. and ‘What if…’ And ‘Does it ever?…
One day I asked my Grandad about prayers. For a long time, Grandad was quiet. Then he answered with a question. ‘Did you know, boy, that trees pray?’
I listened closely, but I couldn’t hear them.
‘See how they reach for the sky,’ he said. ‘They reach and reach–for clouds and sun and moon and stars. And what else is reaching for heaven but a prayer?’
I thought about the trees and kept listening for them, and while I thought I sat down on an old, mossy rock. I found a pebble and stuck it in my pocket. ‘Rocks pray too,’ said Grandad. ‘Pebbles and boulders and old weathered hills. They are still and silent, and those are two important ways to pray.’ I thought hard about the rocks. I picked up a pebble and stuck it in my pocket.
We walked a little farther and came to a small stream. The water splashed and sparkled and tiny fish hovered in the shadows. ‘Do streams pray, too, Grandad?’ I asked….
The glorious pictures in this book were painted by my friend P.J. Lynch, who traveled all the way from Ireland to the North Woods with me, in order to get the feeling just right. I’ve always been so very grateful.
(This book, and all my others, are available at my webstore linked below.)