Bless My Grandchild (A Catholic Prayer Book for Grandparents) by Julie Cragon is a beautiful book of prayers for any grandparent who cherishes praying for their grandchild, (grandchildren). This book of prayers not only includes traditional prayers and novenas that many of us may or may not have prayed before, but also includes a treasure trove of prayers for every stage of a grandchild’s life. For example, this treasury includes prayers for mothers, newborns, an adopted grandchild, a sick grandchild, a grandchild receiving their first sacraments and a grandchild starting school. There are also prayers to address decision making, peer pressure, sports and to hear the call of Jesus, just to name a few. There are prayers addressing the teenage years, various serious issues, as well as prayers for an adult grandchild. You would be hard pressed to find any situation that was not covered beautifully and gracefully in this little book.

In addition to all the beautiful heartfelt prayers, what I also enjoyed was the small, but informative biographies of the saints that inspired a lot of these petitions. These brief, but illuminating pieces of information helped bring the prayers to life for me, as well as help me to understand the lives of these individual saints that inspired such genuine uplifting supplications.

Overall, Bless My Grandchild will have something for every grandparent for every season of their grandchild’s life. A great resource to reach for over and over again in times of happiness, trials, or when words just elude you, this is the prayer book for you. I plan to own my own copy and keep it close by my prayer nook, as well as in my heart.

I want to thank the publisher Ave Maria Press and NetGalley for a complimentary copy of the book, Bless My Grandchild (A Catholic Prayer Book for Grandparents) by Julie Cragon. “Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.”