We are heading into the home stretch of Lent! Not that I've been counting down the days since a few days after Ash Wednesday...but we have some people here VERY EXCITED to a free for all on food again (for about 1 day, then it's back to reasonably healthy but more sugar than most of us are currently eating). Of course, the most solemn days of the church calendar are ahead of us. I can't say I ever look forward to the Triduum and all the extra church going we do, however, I am always so so glad that we give ourselves over to the process and do all the extra remembering and praying. It helps make Easter all the sweeter.
OF COURSE part of our process is picture books. Picture books are ALWAYS part of the process here. Easter is very much a religious holiday for us so these books tend that way but there are also some non-religious ones too. I've been stocking up on these for a few weeks and will be breaking them out soon!
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The Country Bunny and the Gold Shoes by DuBose Heyward, illustrated by Marjorie Flack
This was a new one for us this year, literally just read it hours before I started writing this post. It's an OLD book (1939) about a young bunny who dreams of being one of the 5 Easter bunnies someday but then she was 21 babies and thinks her dream will never come true. BUT THEN she puts those bunnies to work with all the house chores and she gets to fulfill her dream. I very much liked a book from 1939 showing a Mom working (Dad was nowhere mentioned, apparently these children bunnies could just watch themselves).
Humphrey's First Palm Sunday by Carol Heyer
We first met Humphrey when he wanted to be an important camel 33 years earlier. Now he still wants to lead the caravan into the city and is delighted to see Jesus being celebrated, the baby he gave a blanket to many years ago. (I'm especially excited I timed my hold of our single library copy just right to pick it up the Friday before Palm Sunday!).
God the Father and the Best Day Ever by Gracie Jagla, illustrated by Jacob Popcak
My sister introduced me to this book in April 2020 when we were desperate for new books since our library system was closed for nearly 3 months. We swapped books at some point and this is one she shared with us. It's a lovely story about how Easter was the best day ever in heaven because God got to welcome all his people home. We now own it.
The Berenstain Bears the Very First Easter by Jan Berenstain
The Easter story with Jesus being told by the bears, featuring bears. A nice kid friendly version of that story.
The Berenstain Bears' Baby Easter Bunny, The Berenstain Bears Easter Blessings, The Berenstain Bears' Easter Sunday, The Berenstain Bears and the Easter Story, The Berenstain Bears' Easter Parade, The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs, The Berenstain Bears Meet the Easter Bunny by Stan Berenstain, Jan Berenstain and/or Mike Berenstain
AND these are all the rest of the Berenstain Bear Easter books that I've logged. I've checked nearly all of them out again (a few our library only had digitally) and we'll read them soon!
E is for Easter by Greg Paprocki
We own A LOT of Greg Paprocki books, Sam got his one for his 2nd birthday from his godmother. I love all his pictures and this one has a nice mix of Jesus and secular Easter.
The Very First Easter by Paul Maier, illustrated by Francisco Ordaz
This is a mother and father telling their 10 year old son the story of the first Easter. This is a longer read BUT I appreciated how much historical information they weave in, linking it to the Bible passages. If I learned all that in my decade + in Catholic schools, I have since forgotten it so that was just really interesting.
The Easter Egg Artists by Adrienne Adams
This is one we owned when I was a kid and we read it many many times. It's the story of the Abbotts, rabbits who decorate Easter eggs. But their son, Orson, doesn't just want to decorate eggs so he extends his art to bridges, airplanes, and more. But the family has to get back home in early spring so they can get to work on all the eggs they will sell for Easter!
Cranberry Easter by Wende and Harry Devlin
My boys really enjoy the Cranberryport books, there are a dozen-ish of them even though our library doesn't have them all. They are all about a prickly Mr. Whiskers and his kind neighbor and her granddaughter. These are always one of the first they pick when I pull out books for a new holiday.
The First Easter by Lois Rock, illustrated Sophie Allsopp
I specifically went to our branch to pull this book off the shelf when we had just a 1 day warning that they were about to close in March 2020. This covers the week of Palm Sunday - Easter Sunday and it has enough words to be informative without being too wordy. And perfect pictures for a picture book.
He is Risen: Rocks Tell the Story of Easter by Patti Rokus
This is astounding, this woman uses ROCKS (pebbles) to tell the Easter story. It is AMAZING how she can make these so detailed with just ROCKS.
The Donkey That No One Could Ride by Anthony DeStefano, illustrated by Richard Cowdrey
A sad donkey that has never had anyone pick him to ride, thinks his life has no worth. Then he his picked for a very important job, carrying the King of Kings. We also own this one.
The Legend of the Easter Egg: The Inspirational Story of a Favorite Easter Tradition by Lori Walburg, illustrated by James Bernardin
A young boy goes to live with friends above their candy shop when his sister falls ill (just go with it). While he is learning to fill candy orders he also learns where Easter eggs came from (I learned a few things too!).
On That Easter Morning by Mary Joslin, illustrated by Helen Cann
This focuses right on the best part of Easter - Easter morning, even though it does cover the rest of Holy Week too. The day I checked this out a few weeks ago I also checked out a different book with the exact same title (although we haven't read it yet).
The Story of Easter by Gwen Ellis
And just one more Easter story for good measure, there seem to be even less "creative" retelling of the Easter story than of Christmas, there so many crucial details to hit that it's hard to take a creative turn with it, so we end up reading many different version of nearly the same thing. Which is fine! It's an important story to hear many times!
Have any good Easter books? I'd love to have more to read!
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