Everyone Prays: Celebrating Faith Around the World

Everyone Prays: Celebrating Faith Around the World by Alexis York Lumbard is a book that illustrates the diversity that exists in various world religions. It does not really get into any specific beliefs or practices (beyond prayer), but it was written in a way that even my three-year-old was able to follow along and learn. Through colorful illustrations, children are shown that there are many different faiths and many different ways to pray. I liked that the book included several lesser known religions such as Sikhs and American Indians as well as the major ones. I also appreciated that the book did a decent job of highlighting some basic similarities between religions while also acknowledging the diversity that exists. It's very clear that while all religions pray, they do not all pray the same way. At the end, there are a couple of pages that offer more details about the various religions and illustrations. It's good information, but I feel it would have been more useful if it had been incorporated into a footnote on each page. I also wish there had been more of a balance between modern and traditional dress in the illustrations. The fact is that most Muslims, Buddhists, American Indians, etc. my children are likely to encounter will probably not look like the people in the illustrations, and I feel that's important for children to understand.

Still, I think this is a good start for introducing young children to world religion. It's not so much information that it overwhelms them, but it gives them a basic overview of religious diversity. After reading, I asked my children what religions that people we know are part of. My kindergartener was aware that many of the people we know are Mormons (though he didn't know the name for it) and also identified some Christian friends. He was surprised when I told him that one of his friends from preschool last year was Muslim. We talked about ways we can be respectful of other people's beliefs, such as when we are guests in their home and they want to bless the meal. I wouldn't recommend it for kids older than 7 or 8, but it's a good resource for younger kids.