A Prayer for Children - Hardcover

Ina Hughs admits she is no E. B. White, but she must at least have been a White groupie to wield an essay with such noticeable skill. She is the author of the extraordinarily popular poem "A Prayer for Children," which gained exposure through Good Morning, America, Ann Landers, and TV Guide. That work is a set piece for this anthology of short prose selections in which Hughs shows us how to value our children. Drawing on experiences with her own children, famous children, and the child she was, Hughs leads us through a looking glass into a world of bravery, joy, guilt, disappointment, humor, nostalgia, and wisdom. We laugh at her imaginary friend, Verifrickus, who knew exactly where Ina's brother's shins were under the dinner table. We commiserate when a seventh-grader spends a day in her locker weeping into her gym shorts after the teen of her dreams reads her love letter aloud to an appreciative audience. Hughs is a writer in control. For her, less is more. Her style is succinct and powerful. This is a book of nuggets for anyone who has a child, knows one, or has ever been one. You can't stop reading them. Patricia Hassler

In a style resembling Erma Bombeck with a touch of Robert Fulghum, Knoxville News-Sentinel columnist Hughs begins these short essays about children with a prayer-like poem of the same title. The essays are a potpourri of the humorous, the nostalgic, the sweet (and sweetly sad) and sometimes the tragic. The children she writes of are her own, those of neighbors and friends, childhood playmates, a few luminary figures (Helen Keller) and children in general. Topics cover everything from ordering take-out from McDonald's (cleverly called McDarn-Its) to getting your ears tweaked by doting uncles to dying of leukemia. There are plenty of nuggets of wisdom here, too: In a letter to the parents of a teenager killed in a car wreck, she implored them not to blame themselves because "unless we put kids on a leash, we can never control what happens... [life is] all a risk." A perfect Mother's Day gift. Author tour.
- all a risk." A perfect Mother's Day gift. Author tour.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.