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Book Review
Prayer book introduces children to the rosary
Drawings help kids contemplate sacred mysteries of Marian prayer
Reviewed by Andrew Junker, The Catholic Sun
October 18, 2007
Organizers for this year’s Rosary Sunday hope to draw more youth to the celebration and encourage them to pray the rosary regularly.
It’s an ongoing theme for the event.
Last year, Fr. James Kelleher, SOLT, asked the children in the audience to remind their parents to pray the rosary daily with them and even taught them a little jingle to sing so they would remember.
Now children have something more than a song to bring to their parents when they pray the rosary. It’s called “Bead by Bead Rosary Prayer Book” by Sandra Rosetter and Stacey LeNeave.
The book writes out every prayer said during the rosary with an accompanying picture of the rosary bead the child should be holding. An illustration of a scene from each mystery is printed on the facing page.
For example, the first Hail Mary prayed for the mystery of the Annunciation features a drawing of Mary praying before bed. The second Hail Mary has an illustration of Mary sleeping as a bright light shines in her room.
The light transforms over the course of the next few prayers into Gabriel, who announces Mary’s pregnancy to her. By the end of the decade, the entire scene has played out.
In the book’s introduction, Rosetter acknowledged that it can be “challenging to keep the attention of young children.”
“I wondered, ‘How can we keep children engaged through the entire rosary? And can a love for this prayer be developed at a young age?’ These questions brought about the idea for the creation of this book,” she writes.
“Bead by Bead” is an ingenious answer to those questions. Praying the rosary is more than just rote recitation of prayers. The sequence of Our Fathers, Hail Marys and Glory Be prayers is supposed to lead to a meditation on each mystery drawn from the lives of Christ and his mother.
But getting to that contemplative state is daunting for anyone, most of all children. Having to turn a page after each prayer and seeing an artistic representation of the mystery gives the mind something to hold on to.
If parents are trying to introduce the rosary to their children, this book could help immensely. It’s also sturdily printed with thick pages and a strong binding, not inconsequential in a book for kids.
As of now, the co-authors have only published a “Bead by Bead” book on the joyful mysteries, but they promise that books for the sorrowful, glorious and luminous mysteries are forthcoming.
They will make a nice collection for any child’s budding prayer life.
Andrew Junker is a staff writer for The Catholic Sun. Comments are welcome. Send e-mail to letters@catholicsun.org.
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