Mommy Prayers
By Tracy Mayor

THE PERFECT MOTHER’S DAY GIFT

Tracy Mayor, author of MOMMY PRAYERS (Hyperion; April 13, 2010; Hardcover; $17.99)

Tired young mothers ready to crumble in the face of today’s unrealistic standards will love MOMMY PRAYERS, a witty first book by Tracy Mayor, editor at Brain, Child magazine. It’s an entire volume of amusing entreaties for the frustrations, absurdities, and joys that moms of little kids face every day. Cleverly grouped under chapter headings like “Prayers for Crazy Days,” “Prayers for Sleepless Nights,” and “Prayers for Meltdown Moments,” MOMMY PRAYERS includes 120 relatable pleas such as:

•Prayer for the Sunday Paper, Unread: “May it rest in peace, along with all the other accoutrements of our former weekend lives—our mountain bikes, margarita glasses, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking, and organic paraben-free lubricant,”

•Prayer at Preschool Pickup: “Dear God, Please let me be on time.  Or, if it’s somehow your will that I be late, please fill the small, tight heart of the program director with mercy and pity so that she doesn’t charge me the completely outrageous one-dollar-per-minute late fee,”

•And the perennial Prayer for the Lost Binkie: “Dear God, Please help me find my baby’s binkie…It’s 5:15 in the morning and I must stop this kid from crying…Give me a hint, bestow on me the clarity of mind to remember where I last saw the binkie. And quick. Amen.”