Lenten/Easter Books – Seven Little Australians & Counting

During Lent and leading up to Easter we read a lovely collection of books. Every year I add a couple of new titles so we enjoyed some new ones as well as old favourites. I thought I’d share here.

The Little Rose of Sharon’ by Nan Gurley is a beautiful story of sacrifice. About a rose who gives up her most prized possession (her lovely petals) to save a baby dove. The illustrations are beautiful. This is a favourite.

Another story about continual self-sacrifice, The Giving Tree continually gives to a boy/man who took and took and never appreciated the sacrifices of the tree; the fruit, the branches and finally the trunk. To be truthfully honest this book doesn’t really interest us that much, but it’s in the pile;)

The Story of the Cross we use for meditation on Good Friday, very basic but gets the message across to children.

Benjamin’s Box is one of our very, very favourites:) the children eagerly look forward to this book on Good Friday morning and the accompanying treasure egg hunt.

The Legend of the Three Trees is a beautiful story about three trees who have big dreams, dreams involving grandeur, their dreams are doomed to fail or so they think. A favourite of ours suitable for either Christmas or Easter.

The Proud Tree‘s storyline is similar to the ‘Three Trees’. ‘Rex’ thinks he is a tree worthy for a king. But to his horror he is chopped down to be a cross for a crucifixion. However the proud Rex learns a lesson from the humble, gentle Jesus. A longer text, black and white illustrations.

The Very First Easter has lengthy text, plenty of Biblical quotes and beautiful illustrations. Plenty of detail, a classic.

The Easter Story is retold through the eyes of the little donkey that carried Jesus. From Palm Sunday throughout the events of Holy Week till the Resurrection we follow the donkey. Illustrated like all of Brian Wildsmith’s books, a true treasure, we loved this book.

An easy to follow storyline, the story of Easter, with nice illustrations. My only reservation about this book is early on when the author writes “Mary traveled to Bethlehem with her husband-to-be Joseph.” This inaccuracy could rather spoil an otherwise great book.

The First Easter, A richly illustrated book with straightforward text explaining why we celebrate Easter. Another favourite.

A new purchase The Legend of the Easter Egg, by the same author as ‘The Legend of the Candy Cane‘. Written for little ones designed to explain the meaning of Christmas. I was a little disappointed as I felt it wasn’t as well done as the ‘Candy Cane.’

Rechenka’s Eggs, Vibrant pictures depicting the decorative beauty of Ukrainian painted eggs. The tale of Babushka who is preparing her eggs for the Easter Festival when she takes in an injured goose who shows her miracles happen. We enjoy looking at the pictures for inspiration when we paint our eggs.

The Egg Tree, Katy is on an egg hunt on Easter morning at her Grandmom’s when she finds a special set of eggs. Grandmom decided to hang the eggs from the branches of a tiny tree – an Egg Tree, beginning a very special Easter tradition.

Another new purchase, Easter Eggs for Anya, Anya’s family is too poor to buy eggs to decorate then Anya finds goose eggs and plans a surprise for her family. But God has an even better surprise in store. My children were mesmerised. The illustrations are very colourful, informative information about pysanky eggs and their symbolism.

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes – Marjorie Flack

A fun tale of the ‘five’ Easter Bunnies who delivered eggs to all the boys and girls.

If you are looking for chapter books for the older ones I’d highly recommend

Encounter Christ Through the Dramatic Story of Vinegar Boy
we read this as our Lenten read aloud, the story of a disfigured boy who takes the vinegar to Christ on the Cross and his life is changed forever.

For the older children/adults, Koala also enjoyed