Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Tiber River Review: The Holy Rosary






If you are looking for an easy to read children's book that explains each set of Mysteries in a manner that a young child will understand, then look no further.  The Mass and prayer book our parish gave to all the children who were preparing for their First Holy Communion at the beginning of this past school year, did a good job of explaining how to pray the Rosary using a diagram, but I was disappointed that it was incomplete (no Hail Holy Queen) and didn't explain any of the Mysteries of the Rosary.  It's on thing to know the names of each Mystery, but it's quite another thing to understand them and be able to mediate on them.  Wanting my child to have an understanding of each Mystery, is what lead me to look for a Rosary book geared to children.  I was delighted when I discovered Fr. Lovasik's The Holy Rosary at my local Catholic gift shop. 
The first pages of the book give the story of the Holy Rosary.  There are three brief sections that discuss the appearances of the Blessed Mother with the Rosary to Saint Dominic, Saint Bernadette in Lourdes, and the three children at Fatima.

Next, there is a page that names the four groups of Mysteries (Joyful, Luminous, Sorrowful and Glorious).  The page also provides a diagram of a Rosary that is numbered.  There is a "How to say the Rosary" section that has a list of steps that correspond to the numbers on the diagram.  This is followed by a few pages that list the prayers of the Rosary.  I think those pages would be more appealing to children if they had added a few pictures.

After the basic how-to instructions, each set of Mysteries is presented.  On the first page for each set of Mysteries a brief explanation of the set of Mysteries is presented, followed by a list of the five Mysteries that fall under that heading.  On the five pages that follow, there is a verse about the Mystery that is being meditated on, and a beautiful illustration.

In all, the book is a lovely way to introduce your child to the Rosary.  I have found it to be very helpful in teaching my daughter how to meditate on the Mysteries.  On many occasions, she asked for more details surrounding the Mysteries.  I like that the book prompts her to ask more questions so she can achieve a better understanding.
This review of The Holy Rosary Picture Book was written for the Tiber River Blogger Reviewer program, created byAquinas and More Catholic Goods.  For more information and to purchase, please visitAquinas and More Catholic Goods.

Tiber River is the first Catholic book review site, started in 2000 to help you make informed decisions about Catholic book purchases. 

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