Colleen Pressprich's first book catered to adults includes forward by mother of Blessed Carlo Acutis, features saints' mothers
GROSSE POINTE FARMS – Local author Colleen Pressprich is set to release two new children’s books this year through OSV Kids to help guide and teach children about their Catholic faith, as well as her first book for an adult audience through Pauline Press.
A homeschooling mom of five and parishioner at St. Paul on the Lake Catholic Parish in Grosse Pointe Farms, Pressprich’s latest releases bring her total published count up to nine with plans already in place for more.
Pressprich’s guide, “OSV Kids: The Rosary,” published June 23, is an illustrated booklet to help children to pray and love the traditional Catholic devotional on their own and with their families.
Pressprich said that as a mom trying to model prayer for her children, her goal was to write the resources she wants for her own kids, but that this project particularly resonated with her because of her childhood.
“As a child, my parents weren’t practicing Catholics, but I was, and I would have loved to have something like this that really walked me through how you pray the rosary and some meditations geared towards you,” Pressprich said. “I had never really found a set of rosary meditations that I felt I could hand my 10-year-old, or I could pray as a family that we really loved, so I wrote one.”
While all of her children inspire her work, Pressprich said her two oldest love to read sections of her work and give feedback and critiques. The reflection questions included with each decade of the rosary are based on conversations she has had with her children, Pressprich added.
Pressprich is also the author of the first in a new series being published by OSV Kids, “OSV Kids Discover: The Papacy.” The Kids Discover series is a DK Eyewitness-style series that will explore different topics in the church with vivid images, graphs, photographs and short text blocks.
Scheduled to release on Aug. 18, Pressprich said the book was finished before Pope Francis passed away on April 21.
“It was at the printers when Pope Francis died, and OSV called and stopped the presses,” Pressprich explained. “We were able to rewrite some portions and do some really quick and quality research to make adjustments so that Pope Leo could be a part of this book. It is an opportunity to introduce children not just to him but also to questions such as, ‘What does the pope do all day?’”
A trained Montessori teacher, Pressprich said that her children’s books are rooted in a Catholic understanding of the intelligence of the child and the fact that children are truly capable.
“I love providing resources that explain the faith to kids and that also give parents the confidence that they need to be able to pass on the faith to their children,” Pressprich explained. "A lot of Montessori training is about language and about how we phrase things, how we speak to children, and so that is something I naturally pour into my writing. Books provide really great tools for both parents and children, and that is what I always aim to do.”
Pressprich will continue to write books for children including another in the OSV Kids Discover series about Our Lady, however, she is set to release her first book for adults, “Real Moms of Real Saints” through Pauline Press on Aug. 1.
The book is a compilation of 10 biographies of women who raised saints, Pressprich explained.
“These women did what all of us moms are hoping to do, and each chapter touches on a different theme of motherhood,” Pressprich said.
The book is five years in the making, and the forward is written by the mother of soon-to-be saint Blessed Carlo Acutis.
“This is an opportunity to introduce more people to some of my favorite ladies, including some they might not have ever thought about before, like Martha Jane Chisley, who is Venerable Augustus Tolton’s mom, or Stanley Rother’s mom, Getrude Smith Rother. To tell their stories is such an incredible honor.”
