Brother Sun, Sister Moon

Katherine Paterson's Brother Sun, Sister Moon is a picture book for 6 year olds, a song of thanks for the sun and the moon and everything living underneath them.

What happens

Saint Francis of Assisi wrote a prayer about eight hundred years ago, near the end of his life, when he was almost blind. He wrote it in the everyday language people around him actually spoke rather than the Latin of the church, so that anyone could understand it.

This is that prayer, put into words a young child can follow. The old one is printed at the back as well, if you want to see where it came from.

It works its way through the world one thing at a time, and gives each one a place in the family.

Brother Sun, who every single morning reminds us that light had to come from somewhere. Sister Moon and the stars, who dress up the night and keep watch while we sleep. Brother Wind, who roars in a storm and then arrives as a cool breeze on a hot day. Brother Air, who you can't see at all but who is all around you and lets you breathe.

Then Sister Water, who gives herself away so that everything else can grow. Brother Fire. Sister Earth, who feeds us.

After that it turns to people. The ones who forgive. The ones who are ill or having a hard time. The ones who keep trying to make peace in a world with a lot of hatred and war in it.

And then, right near the end, Sister Death.

That's the line to think about before bedtime. This book looks death in the face and calls her a sister, and it is completely calm about it. For some children that is a lovely, steadying way to meet the idea. For others it will be the thing they ask about for the next hour, so it is better to know it's coming than to turn the page and find it.

The other thing to be clear about is that this is a religious book, start to finish. Every line is spoken to God. If that is your family, it's beautiful. If it isn't, it may not be the one for you.

It reads aloud beautifully and it is slow, which is the point. One thing at a time, and pictures cut out of paper.

What to read next

If it's the noticing your family enjoys, Louie Giglio's Indescribable does something similar. It is a hundred very short pieces about sloths and sound waves and stars, each one turning what it finds into a thank you.