Children, especially in the preschool years, have a hundred questions a day. They are in awe of the world around them, and are eager to learn everything they possibly can. Children's book author and motivational speaker Susan Taylor Brown addresses a child's wonderment with God and prayer in her new book, Can I Pray with My Eyes Open?

The death of Brown's grandfather planted the seed for this book, though it took 20 years to take root. "When I was 10 years old, my grandfather died," says Brown. "He was the most important man in my life and I missed him something fierce. He wasn't a churchgoing man, but preferred to worship nature and the outdoors." Brown went to the minister of the church she attended and asked him the questions she had about death. The minister told her to pray about it, so considering how her grandfather worshiped, she went into the garden to pray under the trees. "But the minister told me no. He said there were only two places I was supposed to pray and that was in church in a pew and at home, on my knees, by my bed, with my eyes closed."

Though she did not agree with the minister, Brown was taught not to argue with her elders, and let it go. "This festered in me for 20 years. I was constantly questioning the fact that it seemed to me that I should be able to pray with my eyes open and anywhere I wanted to. After 20 years of turning it over and over in the back of my mind, the book burst forth, fully formed."

The simple rhyming text tells the story of a little girl who wonders if He hears her when she's doing certain things, like playing hide-and-seek, climbing a tree and flying a kite. Can He hear her if she's mad? Do all her prayers have to sound the same? The young girl in the book is full of questions, but in the end figures the answer out all by herself.

Illustrator Garin Baker did the richly detailed artwork for the book in oil paint. "Garin's oil paintings are lovely," says Brown. "The home in the pictures is his home, and it is his family that served as models for those in the book." The young African-American girl narrates the story perfectly, with Garin drawing every aspect of her personality -- from confused and mad, to happy and sad.

Brown dedicates the book to her mother. "My mom always believed that I could do anything I set my mind out to do," she says. "This book sold at a really rough point in my life, and at a time where I had severely tested the limits of my mother's unconditional love. She never once wavered in her belief of me."

Don't be surprised if your child requests this book over and over at bedtime. The text is fun to read as well as listen to, and the story is engaging. Children can be active participants in the story by answering the girl's questions as you read, which can open up a wonderful dialogue between you and your child.

What does Brown want children to get out of reading her book? "I want kids to be reassured that the important thing is that they pray -- where and how and when aren't nearly as important as the active act of communicating. I also hope that it will open the doors for discussion about this very thing with children and the adults in their lives."

Author Susan Taylor Brown tells us the 10 things children should know about prayer in Part Two.