A Place to Pray, by Doreen Klein Robin­son with stun­ning illus­tra­tions by Yuke Li, reminds us that we are more alike than we are dif­fer­ent. In this sto­ry based on the real events of the fire that destroyed New York’s Mid­dle Col­le­giate Church, we meet a boy and a girl — one wor­ships on Sat­ur­day at syn­a­gogue and the oth­er prays on Sun­day at church. Their paths through the city to their respec­tive spir­i­tu­al homes are sim­i­lar; they both look for but­ter­flies and wave when they see each other. 

One Sat­ur­day, though, a fire tears through the church, burn­ing down the girl’s place to pray. When the boy hears his rab­bi speak about ​“com­mu­ni­ty and uni­ty; hope, help, and heal­ing; open hearts and open doors,” he sug­gests that the syn­a­gogue share their space with the church. The Rab­bi and the Rev­erend work togeth­er, and from East­er Sun­day and for many years fol­low­ing, the Mid­dle Col­le­giate Church used the East End Tem­ple for their worship.

This recount­ing of an his­tor­i­cal event demon­strates how reli­gious com­mu­ni­ties can sup­port each oth­er. The author’s device of not nam­ing the chil­dren in the sto­ry fur­ther illus­trates how we can all help one anoth­er, allow­ing all lit­tle boys or lit­tle girls to see them­selves as friends and helpers.

This high­ly rec­om­mend­ed book also shares fac­tu­al infor­ma­tion and resources, includ­ing the mir­a­cle that ​“New York’s Lib­er­ty Bell” was spared in the fire and the his­to­ry of the ​“Yid­dish Walk of Fame.” Of spe­cial note are the illus­tra­tions by Yuke Li which are at once his­tor­i­cal and mag­i­cal, fac­tu­al and uplifting.