I know I’ve said this a lot already, but the fact remains: I really suck at praying the rosary. Despite my struggles with praying it myself, I know it is important, and if God blesses Ben and I with children, I know that I want to rosary to be part of our family’s prayer life.

Consequently, I was very excited when Julie Kelly contacted me about her Book, The Costly Cookie Chronicles.

The summary of the book on Amazon is:

Eleven-year old Clare wants to be a saint for Jesus, but there are a few things standing in her way: everything she says, does, and thinks. Well… not exactly, but almost. Clare finds surrendering her will to Jesus unbelievably hard, until a visiting priest shares an amazing secret during her church’s parish mission. In this second book by Julie Kelly, Clare discovers the tender love of Mary, the transforming power of meditating on the life of Jesus through the holy rosary, and the joy of contemplating with Mary the face of Christ. And in her delightfully candid way, Clare invites readers to walk the narrow road with her to Jesus through Mary.

But I think that what Julie says about her book really shows what a unique piece this is. She explains “ It was written entirely in prayer while meditating on Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae. I wrote this book to draw young hearts to Jesus through Mary and the rosary—I sincerely believe that Mary wishes to plant and protect the seeds of faith and purity in the hearts of children through the rosary.”

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

Despite being older than the target audience age-wise (although probably the appropriate spiritual maturity level ;)) for this book, I enjoyed it. It was well-written, maintained a relatable voice, and presented good morals. I appreciated the character development, especially because it showed Clare struggling several times despite her desire to love Jesus better. I think this made the book more realistic and accessible. I also really respected that Clare learns things from a variety of sources. She mentions priests giving talks, her mother sharing quotes, and more. This is a nice complement to what Clare discovers through prayer, reminding us God can speak to us through others. I definitely learned some new things from reading it.

I read a chapter out loud to my first-grade faith formation class, and I think the beautiful imagery of the chapter I selected really helped them grown in understanding of the rosary, and it was a nice lead-in to our Mary garden activity.

My only (very minor) criticism is that sometimes it goes from cute to cheesy.

I would recommend this books to families because I could see this book working well for individual readers or for family prayer time.