Children's Books discussion

Yes, I'm back... fishing for more holiday picture books! :-) You know I'm rather obsessed. Anyway, this time I'm eager for suggestions on fabulous Easter-themed picture books, secular or religious.

My favorite as a kid was The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

Speaking of Pysanky eggs, Patricia Polacco has a very nice Easter book called Chicken Sunday.

It's not about Easter but there is the famous "Velveteen Rabbit".

Some cute Easter ones for the younger crowd:
*Easter Bugs : A Springtime Pop-up by David A Carter (also exists in French --very cute)
*The Night Before Easter by Natasha Wing (this one takes the Night Before Christmas story and changes it to Easter --there's a whole series too)
*Clifford's Happy Easter by Norman Bridwell
*Clifford's First Easter by Norman Bridwell
*Clifford's Big Red Easter by Nancy Parent and Robin Cuddy
*Dora's Easter Basket by Sarah Willson and Susan Hall
*Max's Easter Surprise (Max & Ruby)by Rosemary Wells
*Strawberry Shortcake and the Easter Bonnet Parade by Monique Z. Stephens
*Easter Parade by Irving Berlin and Lisa Mccue (this one has the piano music at the back of the book)

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Another cute book is The April Rabbits. It's not actually an Easter book, but fits pretty well with the whole bunnies/Spring aspect of Easter. I remember really liking it as a kid.

I haven't read this one yet, but I just came across another by Patricia Polacco about Easter and Ukrainian painted eggs: Rechenka's Eggs

I enjoyed "Rechenka's Eggs"--thank you, Luann!

I also just read another Russian-flavored "egg" book titled Marushka's Egg and I absolutely LOVED it! Am so sad there aren't more reviews or pictures of it here on Amazon.

My review:
Wow! I loved this book! I'm SO sad that there are no reviews of this little gem and no image of the gorgeous and unique illustrations. I really couldn't decide which I wanted to do more, read the story or stare at the pictures. It is one of those tales that truly transported me--a true fairytale, complete with kind, resourceful heroine, frightening and ugly Babba Yaga, a collection of sweet animal friends, and a "surprise" (though I guessed it!) happy ending brought about by our heroine's cunning. I am ordering a copy from Amazon so I have my very own before they all disappear!!!

(Eastern European fairytale/Easter)

This from a NY Times Article in 1994:
When "Marushka's Egg" is read on the White House lawn today, it will be the second Easter in a row for this lively Russian folk tale for children, written by Elsa Okon Real and illustrated by Joanna Wezyk, who also stages a puppet show to accompany the reading.

For Ms. Wezyk, a 28-year-old resident of Elizabeth, who left her family in Poland to arrive alone in the United States five years ago, the honor holds special meaning because "my strong desire to illustrate books brought me here," she said.

In 1989, she received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow with a major in children's book art. But she said she was discouraged by the inferior paper and the insistence on black-and-white drawings in her native land.

"Marushka's Egg" revels in color. The vivid story (Macmillan, $14.95) features doll-like Marushka and her captor, Baba Yaga, a wily witch and probably the best-known character in East European folklore. Ms. Wezyk uses, she said, "memories of artwork I cherish from my childhood" in her festive -- indeed, more festive than scary -- depictions of Baba Yaga, whose forest house stands on chicken legs and who gets around in a flying mortar and pestle.

But whence the inspiration for the image of Marushka? Well, that's another story. Soon after arriving in Elizabeth, Ms. Wezyk worked as a nanny for the Harms family in East Brunswick, and the rosy-cheeked, golden-haired Marushka, who finally triumphs over Baba Yaga, was, she said, modeled after Chrissie Harms -- "the little girl I loved taking care of."

I, too, am excited about the new Easter reads this year. I'm not sure how many of the 2010 pub ones I'll be able to find as our library is usually a bit behind the times and I can't spend $ for all of them. But, I do have the Jan Brett one on library reserve and hope it will be good.

In terms of more Christian-based Easter stories, I have Easter out from the library and it looks quite amazing though I haven't yet read it.
There are some good book lists on Amazon, such as:
http://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Rel...

Chandra wrote: "Easter is a holiday that I tend to neglect with our reading. Quite frankly the bunny/egg/cutesy stuff isn't my favorite thing - although there ARE exceptions!. I love [book:The Country Bunny and t..."

Oh, and "Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes" is one of my all-time favorite books!!!! ;-)

And, Chandra, regarding your "awkward feelings" about sharing stories about Christianity... I think it's always such a sensitive issue when dealing with what some consider the deepest foundation and truth of their life and what others would consider a "myth"--especially when introducing the subject to children. Perhaps the issue with the Christianity is, as Abigail pointed out, because it is the predominant religion in our culture and so you cannot share the stories as merely stories or "something that some (people we've never met) believe" but also have to be sensitive of the many believers in your everyday life. I don't meant to put words in your mouth, just sharing your "awkwardness" as I'm anticipating how I will feel as we move forward with our own family--my husband's side is very religious (he is not) and I know it's going to be a delicate balancing act introducing Christianity to the kids so that we reflect our own parental worldview but also show respect for his family.

Some of our favourite Easter books are:

Joyeuses Pâques, petites bêtes !. I'm pretty sure this book is available in a few languages. A really cute pop-up discovery book.

The Night Before Easter

Diego's Egg Quest. This one comes with reusable stickers to place in the book while you read.

There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick!. Sounds gruesome but it's not (lol!) It follows the nursery rhyme "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly".

Dora's Rainbow Egg Hunt, this is a cute lift the flap book in English and Spanish.

I love the cover art on that French book! I will have to see if we have it in English at our library :-)

Kathryn that whole series is excellent and the art work/pop-ups are really impressive but should be handled with care so little ones would need supervision :)

http://www.amazon.com/Easter-Story-Br...

We have an Easter book by Brian Wildsmith. I love his illustrations. I think Wildsmith and Anthony Browne are a couple of illustrators who are way more famous in the United Kingdom than they are in the United States.

That looks beautiful, Kirei! I must admit I have not heard of those illustrators before (and I do live in the US) so thanks for bringing it to our attention ;-)

Kirei wrote: "http://www.amazon.com/Easter-Story-Br...

We have an Easter book by Brian Wildsmith. I love his illustrations. I think W..."
Brian Wildsmith is one of my all time favorites and when I am doing a series of studies of children's illustrators I must include his work.(We don't focus on the theme of his books, but the quality of his illustrations) He is not a Caldecott winner because he is not American, however, his writing fills a gap for schools whose curriculum is based on a Christian religion. I remember trying to find out about his background, students always love to know, and it was so difficult I began to wonder if he was a priest. His titles include "The Christmas Story", "Joseph", "Mary" "St Francis" etc. Also he has illustrated many fables. Anyway, I think he now has a website.
As for Anthony Browne, very useful titles for teachers who like to include family values in their lessons. "Piggybook" is a classic and the teachers often use "Willy is a wimp" for a unit on bullying.
Sometimes it is good to swap over to Amazon.UK to find slightly different stuff.

Brian Wildsmith
I agree that there is a dearth of children's books on the real meaning of Easter. Just a moment ago a teacher asked me about explaining the meaning of Easter through a story and Brian Wildsmith's book was the only one I could think of.(This school has a curriculum based on Christianity).
Has anyone come across The Egg Tree by Katherine Milhous? It is a Caldecott Medal winner from 1950? set in Pennsylvania.

Wow, that's great info, Gaynor! Thank you :-) And, "The Egg Tree" looks good.

I just read a very cute little boardbook by Kevin Henkes (love him!) Owen's Marshmallow Chick This is a great choice for the wee ones--especially if they've ever felt like they'd rather not eat that cute marshmallow chick in their Easter basket!

Here is one of my favorites:

Max's Chocolate Chicken

I assumed Jan Pienkowski was a woman! LOL I don't know why I thought that, since I knew he was Dutch (I think.)

I actually bought "The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes" off Amazon Bargain Books for something like two dollars, but my mom accidentally gave it away. I am bummed because the regular price is something like nine dollars. (Our library doesn't carry it.)


Our library does have "The Egg Tree" which I think I read last year. It's a nice, old-fashioned book.


Editted to Add: We are currently reading Easter books right now, and I think DS likes the ones like The Berenstain Bears and Spongebob's Easter the best. He is not very religious..... LOL

And by the way, for anyone who wants to focus on spring rather than Jesus, "The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs" is good because the bears find eggs that hatch into baby birds.

Minerva Louise and the Colorful Eggs is about the likable but befuddled chicken Minerva Louise who simply can't figure out why all those eggs are oddly colored and sitting around unattended in the strangest places... I think I would have really liked it as a kid because I would have enjoyed being "in the know" about the true nature of the colored eggs and why they are scattered all about--I always loved being wiser than the characters in books, haha! ;-)

I think a favorite new-to-me Easter book from this year is The Easter Egg Artists Lovely, nostalgic illustrations and a fun story about a family of bunnies working together to paint Easter eggs (among other things) and a young bunny discovering his artistic talents and interests. I love the "family vibe" of this story and how much faith mother and father bunny have in their son and his ability to choose the right path for himself. A wonderful choice for Easter!

Oh, I didn't know he was Polish. I am obviously confused.... lol.

Just wanted to wish a HAPPY EASTER to our members who will be celebrating tomorrow!

Reviving this thread. "Hippity, hoppity, Easter's on its way!" ;-)

The only new Easter book I've read so far this year is Big Bunny. It's such an odd little story, I don't really know quite what to say about it. To me, it felt very disjointed, all over the place. However, perhaps the simplicity appeals to children, and they are connecting the dots in ways that my adult mind has forgotten? Also, the concept is one I found puzzling, as well. It explains how little Easter Bunnies are born, but one of them grows to be a very BIG bunny and can't help with all the delicate activities like painting Easter eggs. However, her little bunny siblings come up with a way that she can help deliver eggs on Easter. Some children may find it confusing that there are several Easter bunnies in this story (none of them looking like the "typical" Easter bunny). I do like the idea of finding what you are good at, even if it's not what you expected you would do with your life... And the illustrations are charming :-)

My favorite Easter book last year (which I see I somehow failed to post here!) was Looking for Easter, an absolutely adorable story of a little bunny who goes looking for Easter. What is Easter, exactly? Is it a grass basket, sweet berries, an egg... or is it perhaps all of these things, and even more? As bunny carries on his search and helps his (super cute!) meadow friends, he comes to find Easter in his own special way.
I loved this book! The story and illustrations are so warm and cozy and hold such a sweet meaning without being didactic or cloying. It's a wonderful celebration of spring, and of the idea of new life and new beginnings. I believe it can be appreciated by both religious and secular readers at Easter time.

Reviving the thread for this season. (If your library is anything like mine, you have to get the books weeks in advance of holidays!)

*bump*

"Hippity, Hoppity, Easter's on the way..."

Olivier Dunrea's Ollie's Easter Eggs.

The Gossie books have always been favourites with us. There are so many interesting books in this thread!

We borrowed on Easter theme book from the display they had at our library, I think it's a classic: The Bunny Who Found Easter, but I don't notice it mentioned in this thread yet. It's about a bunny's journey through the seasons, looking for Easter (because that's where the other bunnies are, right?), it's cute and instructive.

One thing I observe, looking through the Scholastic catalogue for this month, is that amidst several cartoonish-bunnies-and-easter-eggs type books, there is not much or any mention of the christian/religious aspect of this holiday. Meanwhile, I see quite a few titles on Passover. Since we don't proselytize at our house, I typically just wait for questions and discussion topics to pop up naturally, which they usually do as we have friends of many different backgrounds and sensitivities. But since my son started public school he's usually a step ahead of me anyway, as all holidays seem to be covered rather extensively in the classroom. I'm still waiting for him to broach the subject of the meaning of Easter however. Maybe it's too evangelical to find its way into the classrooms at all, I wonder ... ?

Free Kids Easter DVD - The following website has a free Easter DVD for kids that explores Easter from a historical perspective in the U.S.: http://www.FreeEasterDVD.com/L4.html

The Bunny Side of Easter is a book that is just out this year. Beautiful watercolor illustrations and winsome story about how we got the Easter bunny. It borrows from Eastern legends about the rabbit in the moon, but uses allegory to suggest the Christian Easter theme of sacrifice. In terms of Fjola's comment, the book is a good one to lead into a meaningful discussion about the meaning of Easter.

Marvin wrote: "The Bunny Side of Easter is a book that is just out this year. Beautiful watercolor illustrations and winsome story about how we got the Easter bunny. It borrows from Eastern legends about the rabb..."

The Bunny Side of Easter for the link.

These two books are not new this year; both are Christian/religious themed Easter books:
Easter in the Garden (2008)
Easter Eggs for Anya: A Ukrainian Celebration of New Life in Christ (2007)
Both are picture books and suitable for about ages 4 - 8.

Also not new this year, but has not yet been mentioned in this thread:
The Easter Egg, by one of my favorite author/illustrators, Jan Brett.

Thanks for the new additions to our list.

I'm putting a listopia link here for reference: Easter Books.

Thank you!

Please note that while the author is a GR friend, I was not asked to provide a review for this book. She has also not asked me to in any way promote her book in the Children's Literature Group. I found out about the book in the author's section, and after now having read and reviewed, Catherine's Pascha: A Celebration of Easter in the Orthodox Church, decided to also post my review in the Easter thread as it very much and very well fits the bill so to speak.

Charlotte Riggle's Catherine's Pascha is a glowing, evocative, and yes simply wonderful, informative basic introduction to Orthodox Easter (Pascha) celebrations (both historical and contemporary in scope, the narrative clearly presents and demonstrates just how truly universal Eastern Orthodoxy is, reaching from Alaska to the Middle East and Africa, from Asia to North America). Encased in an engaging framework of how Catherine and her family celebrate Pascha (and what constitutes Orthodox Easter/Pascha celebrations, not just the church service itself, but the long fasting period that happens beforehand and the joyful post church feasting), I love the smooth and flowing combination of fact and fiction (and very much appreciate the informative and detailed author's note with the supplemental link to even more information, recipes and such, although as a hopeless academic, I would have liked a detailed bibliographical list of recommendations for further reading, but guess what, I always want that). And just a small nugget of additional knowledge (and I hope you do not mind this, Charlotte), that while the English word Easter is definitely based on Eostre and Eosturmonath (Eostre was likely an ancient Germanic goddess of spring), the German word for Easter, Ostern, is also based on the same, which is rather interesting, as in most other Germanic languages, the word for Easter is based on Pesach, Pascha, Pâques and such.

Now while personally, I happen to especially love the addition of parts of the Orthodox liturgy (surrounding the main illustrations), I do realise that this might be problematic and uncomfortable for and perhaps even considered as inappropriate by those vehemently anti-religious or so set in their own religious ways as to not consider any deviance from their own beliefs and dogma as acceptable (although really, the liturgy parts are very unobtrusive and at least for me, provide a beautiful and enchanting addition to both text and illustrations).

With regard to the R.J. Hughes accompanying illustrations, while colour wise, they are a bit too pink and purple hued to be considered personal favourites, they provide a simply marvellous accompaniment to Charlotte Riggle's text, both complementing the same, as well as vividly expanding upon the written word by having as their background almost twenty Orthodox churches and cathedrals from all over the world (however, I do have to wonder with expectant sadness whether the Mariamite Cathedral of Damascus, Syria, still exists, whether it has not been destroyed by bombs and the radical and evilly anti cultural bias and hatred of ISIS extremism).

Henri, Egg Artiste looks cute.

I'm looking for more picture books about people celebrating Easter. Not bunnies that act like people, but real people. I know Rechenka's Eggs and Chicken Sunday, of course. Dance of the Eggshells/Baile de Los Cascarones, Sawdust Carpets, The Egg Tree, and Marushka's Egg. (Although that last one sort of stretches what I'm looking for, since it's more of a Baba Yaga story than an Easter story.)

Suggestions?

Charlotte wrote: "I'm looking for more picture books about people celebrating Easter. Not bunnies that act like people, but real people. I know Rechenka's Eggs and Chicken Sunday, of cour..."

Not sure if this fits your criteria as more than just Easter is featured, but I find Wendy Pfeffer's A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox informative and engaging (although the accompanying illustrations are a bit too pinky and cutesy for me).

Manybooks wrote: "Charlotte wrote: "I'm looking for more picture books about people celebrating Easter. Not bunnies that act like people, but real people. I know Rechenka's Eggs and [book:Chicken Sunda..."

Thank you! I'm looking specifically for Easter books -- but I am going to check that one out, and if I can't find enough of what I'm looking for, I may use that one. Thanks!

This thread has been so helpful in picking out books to read at my library's storytime with the Easter Bunny! I requested several of the suggestions through interlibrary loan. Thank you all. :)

I know that Easter has already passed, but I just came across this book:
He Is Risen: Rocks Tell the Story of Easter by Patti Rokus

The simple text is backed up with scripture on the same page. The figures formed from different shapes of rocks are depicted against an all-black background, making the figures pop off the pages. The result is beautiful and eye-catching.

Easter Parade This is Irving Berlin's "Easter Parade" song set to illustrations by Lisa McCue. It is perhaps nothing remarkable but I am already a fan of the song and of McCue's adorable animals illustrations so I was the perfect audience for this sweet little PB. The assortment of animals dressed up in their Easter best, the cute setting (the town is mostly made in tree trunks of the forest) and the sweet father-daughter connection (it's from the daddy rabbit's perspective ) made me smile and warmed my heart.

The Easter Surprise This is part of a big series which I've never heard of before. It was a bit difficult having this as the first introduction because there are SO many farm animals and trying to keep track of all their names as if we are old friends was challenging. Perhaps this is not the fault of the book but it definitely makes it a bit hard to recommend as a stand-alone. The story itself is rather clunky and long-winded and lacking in any literary charm, but the photographic illustrations are really kind of oddly mesmerizing and the animals are adorable. My four-year-old son loves this and has asked for many re-reads so I guess it's a hit with the target audience. We will probably look for others in the series once the libraries reopen.

The only two I remember reading or at least liking were
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes

and The Egg Tree

My preference was always for anything old-fashioned and especially connected to my heritage. My mom grew up in Pennsylvania Dutch country.

QNPoohBear wrote: "The only two I remember reading or at least liking were
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes."

That is my all-time favorite of the Easter bunny-themed books. I, too, loved it as a child.

(The Egg Tree is very nice, too.)

Here you have a cute easter book. Includes cut-outs. Enjoy it!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086WK9X2F

Nacho wrote: "Here you have a cute easter book. Includes cut-outs. Enjoy it!

Addison’s Easter by Ana Álvarez for the GoodReads link.

Any suggestions for books with good pictures of Easter baskets? I'm trying to fit a book to a recipe for the library's edible book challenge. It's on Easter weekend and I won't have time for multiple food projects. Just what I make for my family and one extra bread basket for the library. I don't see any in the library catalog at the host library.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Any suggestions for books with good pictures of Easter baskets? I'm trying to fit a book to a recipe for the library's edible book challenge. It's on Easter weekend and I won't have time for multip..."
The Best Easter Basket Ever! With Tattoos might suit your need, and it's actually a fairly cute story.

Available over Open Library too (https://archive.org/details/besteaste...)