Kaylee Prays for the Children of the World, Helen Lee, illustrated by Shin Maeng. IVP Kid (ISBN: 9781514009161) 2025.

Summary: Kaylee and her grandfather learn of needy children in the news and struggle for words to pray.

“God, do you care about this boy?

“God, do you care about all these children in the world?”

“There is so much to pray for!”

How do you pray when it is all jumble and you can’t find the words?

Kaylee and her Korean-American grandfather Halbi read the newspaper at breakfast each morning. When they see a story of a child in need, they cut out the picture and pray for the child and pin the picture to a world map full of pictures.

This morning, Kaylee sees a picture of a boy from Turkey, standing in front of a row of tents, made of blankets. He looks sad, with tears in his eyes. Kaylee wonders if God really cares for him. She looks at their world map and sees so many pictures. Children from North Korea, India, South Sudan and even the United States.

There are so many, Kaylee is not sure how to pray for all the brokenness in the world. She remembers God promises to help when we don’t have words and she prays “Help me, Holy Spirit.” And suddenly the words come as she prays in English, Halbi in Korean, and Keedo, their dog, in his own language (“Keedo” is Korean for “prayer”).

Helen Lee takes the hard questions at the heart of intercessory prayer and offers the quiet hope that God helps and hears that bears fruit in joy and peace. She also offers in this story a wonderful model of learning about and responding prayerfully to the world’s needs. She even introduces us to the Korean practice of tongsung kido, the Korean practice of simultaneous prayer.

In addition, the illustrations by Shin Maeng captures the shifting moods and emotions in this story while visually portraying the world’s children for whom they pray. In short, this briefly told story speaks to the challenges parents and children face as they pray. And it invites us to ask the Holy Spirit’s help to untangle our words and help us pray. It is a story to speak to a child’s heart. It spoke to mine.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for review.