Recommended Children's Easter Books and Give-Away

We're getting a head start on our Easter baskets over here, so I thought it was a good time to review and post some suggestions for children's Easter books for your baby bookworms. And what better time for our first give away?! Scroll to the bottom of this post for the give away details.

Busy Bunnies (Board book), by John Schindel. This charming little board book contains photographs of bunnies doing various bunny things, like munching on a carrot and hopping. Other books in the same series include Busy Monkeys (which we definitely need to check out), Busy Horsies, Busy Barnyard, Busy Penguins, Busy Kitties, Busy Doggies, Busy Pandas, Busy Piggies, and (the newest) Busy Chickens.

Excerpt:

Bunny hopping / Bunny plopping

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: He enjoyed this book, but liked Busy Chickens slightly more.

Busy Chickens (Busy Animals) (Board book), by John Schindel. Like "Busy Bunnies" and the other books in this series, "Busy Chickens" is a board book full of photographs of actual chickens engaged in various activities. While some of the chickens are the little yellow chicks you'd expect to see plastering Easter books, others (like those on the cover) are full feathered older chickens, and their images seem more comedic somehow (at least to this city dweller).

Excerpt:

Chicken cheaping / Chicken leaping

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: He enjoyed this book, sitting through several reads in a row.

Cloth Book Fluffy Chick (Touch and Feel Cloth Books), by Roger Priddy. This (and one other by the same author) were the only cloth books he liked much. The rhymes are cute, the cover is nicely crinkly, and the pages contain different tactile sensations, like a springy pigtail and a cushioned cow's nose.

Excerpt:

"When the duck is swimming in the lake, "quack, quack," is the sound she'll make."

Bookworm's interest at under 12 months: He'd sit and play with this one while I made lunch when he was an infant.

Parent's Peeve: Fluffy chick isn't actually in the book.

Curious George Four Board Book Set [BOX SET] (Board book), by H. A. Rey. I keep meaning to review this four board book set, which includes, among others, the Easter-relevant "Curious George and the Bunny." In this book, George finds a cage with a Mother Bunny and her many baby bunnies. He plays with one of them, loses him, (with the help of the Mother Bunny) finds him again, and sets him back in his cage. It's a cute little tale.

Excerpt:

"Where did the bunny go? George looked everywhere but the bunny was gone. All the fun was gone, too."

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: I'm not sure why he doesn't want to sit through the full length of these books. I think he'll grow into them, so I'd recommend them for a slightly older child.

Gossie and Gertie (Board book), by Olivier Dunrea. A sturdy little board book starring Gertie and Gossie - best friend ducks. It kept his attention the first time through even in a crowded room full of running, shouting older kids.

Excerpt:

"This is Gossie./This is Gertie./Gossie wears bright red boots./Gertie wears bright blue boots./They are friends. Best friends."

Bookworm's interest at 14 months: Signing for birds for the ducks and a quasi frog sign for a hopping frog on one of the pages.

Happy Easter, Maisy! (Board book), by Lucy Cousins. This Maisy Easter story features an egg hunt, and also includes the painting of the eggs beforehand. It concludes with a Happy Easter shout among a crowd of Maisy and his animal friends.

Excerpt:

"Tallulah helps Maisy paint the eggs lots of different colors."

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: Not much yet, but we'll try it a few more times. This is his first Maisy book.

Make Way for Ducklings (Viking Kestrel Picture Books) (Hardcover), by Robert McCloskey. A Caldecott Award winner, this book follows Mr. and Mrs. Mallard as they set up home on the Charles River in Boston and attempt to navigate the city's intersections with a row of ducklings in tow. The entire tale is illustrated with brown sketches.

Excerpt:

"One day the ducklings hatched out. First came Jack, then Kack, and then Lack, then Mack and Nack and Ouack and Pack and Quack. Mr. and Mrs. Mallard were bursting with pride. It was a great responsibility taking care of so many ducklings, and it kept them very busy."

Bookworm's interest at 14 months: The pages had been too delicate for him to handle until recently (14 months). I think the lack of color in the illustrations makes it hard to engage him at this point, but this would make a beautiful gift for an older child or one that a younger child can grow into.

Sleepy Bunny (Pat the Bunny Cloth Book), by Golden Books. A soft cloth version of the popular "Pat the bunny" book. It includes a bunny on a string that can be placed from page to page as you read the text.

Bookworm's interest at under 12 months: Our little man wasn't a huge fan of cloth books (Fuzzy Bee and Friends and Fluffy Chick and Friends notwithstanding), but this was one of the few we'd read to him when he was an infant.

Spot's Easter Surprise (Board book), by Eric Hill. In this cute little Spot board book, Spot and his friends hunt for eggs in the garden, each in turn finding one. They give the biggest egg of all to Grandma and Grandpa, and Grandma suggests they all share it. I love how the Grandma dog wears her granny glasses and somehow, in all the simplicity of the drawing, still manages to appear immediately to be a grandma (dog).

Excerpt:

"Spot finds one, too. Yippee! / Now Steve finds one."

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: He wasn't hugely interested in this one, but I think it will grow on him. Spot's different friends are various animals (monkey, alligator, etc.), and that does draw his interest in somewhat.

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes (Hardcover), by Dubose Heyward. There is so much to say about this book! First, the plot. A "little country girl bunny with a brown skin..." aspires to be one of the five Easter Bunnies, who are "the five kindest, and swiftest, and wisest bunnies in the whole wide word." Her peers mock her, because 1) she's a girl, 2) she's from the country, and presumably, 3) she's brown. When she has 21 babies, it seems her fate is sealed: "'What did we tell you! Only a country rabbit would go and have all those babies. Now take care of them and leave Easter eggs to great big men bunnies like us.'" Cottontail, though, being as wise as she is, has other plans, and soon learns to put her children to work for her, training them to run the household. When a spot opens up for a new Easter Bunny, you can imagine who gets chosen. The really amazing thing about this story? The book was published in 1939, by an author born in the 19th century! The book delivers a lovely message about accomplishing your goals against all odds, with additional lessons about feminism and class woven in. What a lovely gift this would make for a young girl in particular, but I think boys or girls would enjoy it. I especially like when the mother bunny shows the skills she has developed while being a stay at home mom bunny (see the excerpt). Modern SAHM's will relate well to those passages.

Excerpt:

"'...It is too bad that you have had no time to run and grow swift, as I might have made you my fifth Easter Bunny.' At that, Mother Cottontail started to laugh, then she whispered to the little bunnies, and every rabbit on the lawn looked to see what would happen and the old Grandfather leaned forward to watch. Suddenly all of her twenty-one children raced away. And Cottontail dashed after them, and in no time at all she had them all back again in front of the Palace."

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: This is much better suited for an older child (there is a good deal of text per page). I haven't tried it with him yet, other than a quick initial glance.

Where Are Baby's Easter Eggs?: A Lift-the-Flap Book (Board book), by Karen Katz. The little bookworm has really been enjoying this Karen Katz lift the flap book since we brought it home. Those familiar with Katz' style (in books like "Where is Baby's Bellybutton?," a favorite around here) will feel right at home. The reader searches for Easter eggs from page to page, up in a tree, in a laundry basket, behind the flowers, etc., finding instead (until the end) other Easter items, such as an Easter bonnet, jelly beans, bunnies, and chicks. I like that this has all of the typical Easter symbols (the non-religious ones at least) in one book. If your little bookworm likes lift the flap books, this one is a perfect basket stuffer.

Excerpt:

"Are they under the picnic table? / No! Here are some friendly Easter chicks!"

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: He loves this one, especially (of course) the flaps.

The Runaway Bunny (Book & Bunny Gift Set) (Board book), by Margaret Wise Brown. By the author of Goodnight, Moon, this charming little board book can be bought packaged with a lovely stuffed bunny - such a cute Easter gift! There is also a full (non boardbook) version, and we might opt for that one. According to Amazon's blurb, "[s]ince its publication in 1942, The Runaway Bunny has never been out of print."

Excerpt:

"Once there was a little bunny who wanted to run away.
So he said to his mother, 'I am running away.'
'if you run away,' said his mother, I will run after you.
For you are my little bunny.'

Bookworm's interest at 15 months: Alas, he was not too keen on it, but the same was true of "Goodnight Moon" on the first few reads, and it has become a favorite. He also might prefer the non boardbook version. He's a little fickle like that.

Additional recommendations (from our readers)

See the complete list of 75 recommended Easter books HERE!


Our First Give Away!!

Thanks to the generosity of Tricycle Press, we will be giving away one copy of Busy Bunnies and one copy of Busy Chickens to two lucky winners. We're still a pretty new blog, so you have a great shot at winning!

To enter:

1. Comment on this post for one entry.
2. Comment with suggested titles to add to this list. I'll be updating the list with people's suggestions. Each title you suggest will give you an extra entry, up to 5 entries! Books can be specifically Easter-focused, religious or nonreligious, or just include bunnies, chicks, or ducks.
   
3. Subscribe to this blog through a reader. Let me know in your comment. You will receive two extra entries.
4. Post about the give away on your site. Give me the link to your post in a comment here. You will receive three extra entries.
   

That's 11 possible entries per person. Deadline: Midnight on March 31, 2009. Winners will be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond with an address, so make sure I have a way to reach you through your comment, profile, or blog. U.S. only please (sorry). The first winner will get first choice of the two books, and the second winner will get the other.

Comment away!