Bead by Bead The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary for Children
Inkwell Media, LLC
ISBN 9780578487137
ISBN 9781734567007
ASIN B084T8BXJR
I read A Single Bead by Engelman almost a decade ago, and it still comes to mind often, and is a book I recommend frequently. While working on a different review I stumbled upon this trilogy of books, one for each of the traditional sets of mysteries of the Rosary. And though this book is completely different I enjoyed it just as much. These three volumes are prayer books, but they are also Visio Divina, which Visio Divina (Latin for "divine seeing"). It is a traditional Catholic method of praying with sacred artwork, icons, or images. Each two page spread in the volume has a painting or piece of a painting to help with the reflection. And each station has two different paintings. But I am getting ahead of myself, the description of this volume states:
“Simplify and deepen children’s prayer of the Rosary with this beautiful book, complete with color-coded Hail Mary’s to help answer the question, “Which bead are we on?” without ever having to stop the prayer and meditation. Each Hail Mary is followed by one or two sentences which describe, over the course of the ten Hail Mary’s, the event in Christ’s life, thereby keeping children engaged in the stories and helping them to understand what it means to meditate upon the mysteries of the Rosary. Each mystery is further enriched with vibrant works of sacred art. The book includes a link with instructions to create rosaries to match the color-coded Hail Mary’s of the book, if the reader desires. Written by the award-winning author of the Catholic young adult novel, A Single Bead, this book is sure to enrich the Rosary for your family!”
In the introduction we are informed:
“The Rosary is such an important and beautiful prayer! Yet, when I prayed it with my young children, I found them squirming, complaining, and most definitely not meditating on the Biblical stories of each mystery! In an effort to alleviate this problem, I began to intersperse snippets of the Biblical stories between the Hail Mary's as we prayed.
This brought wonderful results with my own family, and I felt called to put it in writing. The printed format enabled me to address another difficulty I frequently encountered: the interminable question, "Mommy, what bead are we on?" Oh, how I wanted to immerse myself in prayer with my children, but that question was a constant distraction!
To solve this challenge, I added color coding to the Hail Mary's of the book, and made sets of sacrifice beads with each of my children that matched the pattern of Hail Mary beads in the book. Thus, as I pointed to each Hail Mary, my children could easily see the answer to their question!”
As mentioned each mystery is three facing pages, A piece of artwork on each set. After each Hail Mary is a biblical verse. Thus the volume is both Lectio Divina and Visio Divina. Each of the Hail Mary’s for each mystery is proceeded by a colour circle. Engelman also offers instructions for making matching Rosaries, especially for while teaching children. The colours are:
Yellow
Rust
Purple
White
Blue
Green
Black
Red
Light Blue
Light Purple
At the end of the volume we are provided the list of Image credits. They are:
Madonna with the Rosary, Bartolome Esteban Muri llo, 1650
The Madonna of the Rosary, Bartolome Esteban Murillo, between circa 1675 and circa 1680
Our Lady of the Rosary, Michelangelo Merisi, between 1605 and 1607
The Agony in the Garden, Andrea Mantegna, between 1458 and 1460
An Angel Comforting Jesus Before His Arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, Carl Bloch, 1873
Jesus in the House of Annas, Jose de Madraza y Agudo, 1803
Flagellation of Christ, William-Adolph Bouguereau, 1880
Christ Mocked, Hieronymus Bosch, between 1479 and 1516
Christ Mocked, Pietro Della Veccia, C. 1650
Christ Meets His Mother, Gebhard Fugel, 1921
Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary, Raphael, c. 1516
Christ at the Cross, Carl Bock, c. 1870
Descent from the Cross, Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1613
Harrowing of Hell, Nikolay Koshelev, 1900
I love the eBook edition as I can always have it on me. I am very thankful I picked up this trio of books. I really enjoyed this volume on The Sorrowful Mysteries as the first in the series I have read. The sorrowful are my favourite to pray when I do not know what to pray and I know I will use this volume often.
This is an excellent book for the young or to be honest anyone who wants to go deeper with the Rosary. This is a fantastic book in a trilogy that would be great for any home, school, or church library. I loved this and can easily recommend it!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2026 Catholic Reading Plan!
Books by Stephanie Engelman:
Walking with Christ: Life Stories of Jeanne Wieck Atkins with Scriptural Reflections
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Bead By Bead Series For Children:
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Contributed to:
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Written As S.J. Engelman:
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