Saying Grace: Blessings for the Family Table. This item is unavailable.Saying Grace: Blessings for the Family Table

Offering thanks for our daily bread is just about universal. This collection of 120 mealtime blessings spans the globe and reaches back hundreds of years to include a wide range of sentiments, from the amusing to the heartfelt to the sacred. A Chinese proverb gives us this reminder, "When eating bamboo shoots, remember the man who planted them." The Irish lyrically ask that "the sweet light within you guide you on your way." And for those who like to cut to the chase, there's "Good bread, good meat, good God, let's eat." What they have in common is a joyous and heartwarming appreciation for life's bounty. Beautifully illustrated, these pages offer those gathered around the table time-honored words of gratitude. In the words of a 19th century blessing, "May others all these blessings share, and hearts be grateful everywhere."

David Dean is a London-based illustrator.

Sarah McElwain is the editor of @METRO, The Metropolitan New York Library Council Newsletter and a teacher at The Writers Studio. She lives in New York City.