Every night, like a religious tooth fairy, Celia Straus dropped a prayer on her daughter's pillow. The first came when 12-year-old Julia asked her mother to write something to help her sleep despite her worries; then for a year the act became a ritual. Julia collected the prayers in a bedside bureau next to her hand lotion and her retainer. Not even her father or sister knew. The prayers were hers alone: secret exchanges between mother and daughter.

Before I go to sleep each night,

Before I turn off every light,

Let me put away my fears,

Let me brush away the tears . . .

Then, lo and behold, they became a book.

And the book, "Prayers on My Pillow," became 55,000 books. Plus a popular Web ...