Kathleen A. Green is a Unitarian Universalist minister and doctoral candidate at New York Theological Seminary. She has served congregations in Illinois, Wisconsin, California and New Jersey. She currently sits on the board of the Yale Humanist Community
Goodness Gracious provides an excellent resource for teachers and parents who want to cultivate gratitude in small children and help them to verbalize wonder and appreciation for the natural world and for humanity. This collection of short songs, chants, and poems could resonate for small children of any religion or religions, or who are spiritual, or humanist, or any combination of those identities. -Susan Katz Miller, author of The Interfaith Family Journal and Being Both: Embracing Two Religions in One Interfaith Family What a collection! There's a prayer or grace for every occasion here, from giving thanks for pets and teachers to releasing fear about the 'monster' under the bed. I'm impressed by how gracefully these prayers address situations that are important to children-grandma moving away, feeling connected to the earth-yet are underrepresented in traditional collections. The prayers are in simple, vivid language to help children of all ages explore big feelings and connect those feelings to values like gratitude and wonder. And I'm delighted that many of these prayers can be sung to familiar tunes! I can imagine a child and parent singing a prayer together, day after day, as the song helps the prayer root into memory. -Rev. Erika Hewitt, author of Story, Song and Spirit: Fun and Creative Worship Services for All Ages