My Prayer Book for Young Boys has an Illustrator!
For those of you who don’t know, I’m Anna Cannelongo, and I’m writing a prayer book that targets young boys! You can learn more about me on my website Word & Numbers.
Ladder Learns to Pray
Like many parents, we have a bedtime routine that includes prayers. For my baby shower, my mom gifted me the Little Golden Book Prayer’s for Children. However, my truck-loving son was completely uninterested in it. It has cute cuddly animals and sweet innocent children in it. Instead, my son was interested on the cross-promotional Tootle the Train on the back cover. He kept flipping through the book looking for the train. Lol. So I did what any good Christian mom would do, I scoured Amazon for any prayer book that targeted young boys. But I couldn’t find anything! So I decided to write my own. It’s called Ladder Learns to Pray and it should be available Spring 2026.
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Search for an Illustrator
We faced many trials looking for an illustrator. It was one roadblock after another. We had a smaller budget, so we got scammed once and then hit a few more dead ends. Although, I believe everything is in God’s timing because I think we found the perfect person! She seems to do a lot of Christian and Jewish books. I appreciate having someone who has an interest of portraying Biblical truths in art.
Meet Steliyana Doneva
About
Stela lives in Sofia, Bulgaria with her husband, a violist and three children, who constantly provide her with continuous inspiration. Her love of painting and drawing started from an early childhood. As a little girl, Stela would imitate her grandfather drawing horses in his notebook. Stela still feel that his horses are the most beautiful she has ever seen! Stela studied at the School for Applied Arts in Sofia with the specialty in “children’s toys.” She also graduated at St. Cyril and St. Methodius University in Veliko Tarnovo in 1998 with an MA degree in Graphic Arts. Stela started her career as an animator in a movie animation studio. She also worked on flash animations for children’s games, puzzles, educational kits, etc. Luckily, four years after graduation, Stela published her first book written by her good friend. In her free time, Stela enjoys making fabric toys and working on her skills to become a better photographer.
Her Works
Steliyana has done fantastic work! When I went to my local library system, I searched by her name and got around a dozen of her published books. She’s worked with high-profile author Jane Yolen on Mighty Micah, a story about Purim. Additionally, her book God’s Big Story for You won the 2019 Christian Book of the Year® – Children’s Book Award Winner. Journey with Jesus: An Easter story by Ann Ingalls is beautiful! I love how she frames the scenes in that book. Here is a list of some of her other books:
God’s Big Story for You by Our Daily Bread
Journey with Jesus: An Easter Story by Ann Ingalls
Adam’s Animals by Barry L. Schwartz
Mighty Micah by Jane Yolen
Sandy Feet! Whose Feet? by Susan Wood
Beat, Beat, Thump by Allison Edwards
An Extraordinary, Ordinary Moth by Karlin Gray
A Persian Princess by Barbara Diamond Goldin
The Adventures of Pilot Pete by Peter Weber
Pre-order form
If you know a young boy who would love a prayer book that involves trucks, than subscribe to my blog for the latest updates. I hope to have a pre-order form out in the next month or so!
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