Hi everyone!
Spring seems to be speeding along and Easter Sunday will be here before we know it. If you’d like some books to have along on the journey, look below. A blessed season to you and yours!
First off, I covered some of our favorite Holy Week resources a few years ago over at Story Warren. There are a few more books there, so don’t miss them.
Here are some MORE of our favorite Holy Week and Easter titles:
The Garden, the Curtain, and the Cross — Carl Laferton; illustrated by Catalina Echeverri. This is a brilliant explanation of the Gospel using the curtain in the temple as the centerpiece of the idea. I loved this book when it came out; I love it still.
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes — DuBose Heyward; illustrated by Marjorie Flack. Originally published in 1939, this is a sweet story of a little girl bunny who grows up to be one of the world’s five Easter bunnies. Her kindness and wisdom ends up being rewarded in a special way. It’s on the long-ish side for a picture book, but you could do it in a couple sittings with little ones.
Chicken Sunday — Patricia Polacco. This would be a good one for older children; it’s the story of a group of friends who work together to buy an Easter bonnet for a grandmother. Polacco always pays tribute to her diverse neighborhood, as in this story that has black families, Russian families, and one Jewish neighbor as characters. “How we loved to hear Miss Eula sing. She had a voice like slow thunder and sweet rain.” (If you like Polacco, you might also try out her folk tale called Rechenka’s Eggs.)
The Easter Story — Brian Wildsmith. This is an oversized, fairly straightforward retelling of Holy Week. It’s from the perspective of the donkey who carried Jesus on Palm Sunday. He observes Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, the Last Supper, the trial, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. The great thing about this book is the illustrations — Wildsmith always has a lot of detail in his drawings, and my kids used to pore over his pictures like an I-spy book.
Petook: An Easter Story — Caryll Houselander, illustrated by Tomie dePaola. Petook is a rooster who lives at the time of Christ; he has his own story of death and resurrection that runs alongside the Easter story.
The Story of Easter — Aileen Fisher, illustrated by Stefano Vitale. This is a nicely illustrated information book that teaches about the Biblical story of Easter as well as traditions through the years and around the world.
A note on purchase links: I’m a happy supporter of independent bookshops, so the links I provide will almost always go to bookshop.org. For my local readers, I heartily recommend you buy them through our favorite, Goldberry Books, but you might have a shop closer to you. Of course, you can always find these selections on That Big Website That Ships Quickly, But Not As Quickly as It Used To, and Remember How They Sucked Us All In By Being a Bookstore to Begin With? I’m also a big fan of saving money and patronizing your local library. Happy reading!