Bedtime Stories & Prayers {Book Review}

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review from Tyndale Blog Network. All opinions expressed below are my own.

Bedtime around our house has some serious ups and downs. For awhile, I thought we were into a pretty good groove and then Adelaide decided never to sleep again (hopefully that's an exaggeration).

We instituted a fairly strict bedtime routine around the time Lincoln climbed out of his crib at 20 months old. We do baths every night (or every other, depending on how energetic we were that day), read books, say prayers, and attempt to tuck both kids in around 8pm. Lately, Lincoln's been doing reasonably well with this routine. Addie is another story altogether, but at least we can pretty consistently count on him sleeping at 8 or 9pm.

We were sent a special book that has been fun to work into our nightly routine: Bedtime Stories and Prayers: Blessings for Bedtime by Dandi Daley Mackell and Kathleen Long Bostrom. This title from Tyndale Kids was released in April 2013 and is a lovely addition to a child's library.

The book is split into four sections: Bedtime Blessings, Thank You, God!, Blessings Everywhere and God Loves You. Each section is about 25 pages long. This kind of sounds like a lot for a children's bedtime book - but the pages each contain one large illustration and just a small verse or two of text. With repetitive phrasing and familiar scenarios for children, this book easily applies to our family dynamic and helps wind down the little ones at the end of the day.

The beautiful illustrations by Elana Kucharik are whimsical and feature everything from lightning bugs to the ocean to friendly pets and more. Lincoln loves pointing out the different animals and familiar objects that he knows.  The short rhymes on each page are not overwhelming for my busy toddler - sometimes getting him to sit through an entire book can be a challenge. With this one, we don't have to read the whole thing - since there are four different stories to love.

We are always looking for books that help to reinforce the values we hope to instill in our kids and this one definitely fits the bill. It will be a classic we pull from the shelf at bedtime for many years to come.

See? Isn't it precious when she sleeps?

Thank you to TBN for providing my review sample!  I received no other compensation and all views expressed are my own.  For more information, you can read my Disclosure Policy.