Favorite Easter Books

Our favorite Easter books are of the bunny-and-egg variety, with the glorious exception of Brian Wildsmith's The Easter Story.  We own all of these (except for the Max and Ruby books), but we also like to look on the Easter shelves at the library: it seems to me that the best Easter books are the older ones.

The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by DuBose Heyward; pictures by Marjorie Flack (1939).  A classic.  I loved this book when I was a little girl, especially the spot illustrations of Cottontail's twenty-one children doing the housework.

The Easter Egg Artists by Adrienne Adams (1976).  "There are Abbotts and there are Abbotts.  These Abbotts are rabbits.  The rabbit Abbotts make the designs on Easter eggs."

The Bunny Who Found Easter by Charlotte Zolotow (1959); re-illustrated by Helen Craig (1998).  Lovely to look at and read aloud; lots of seasonal details.

The Birds' Gift: A Ukrainian Easter Story by Eric Kimmel; illustrated by Katya Krenina.  A folktale about the origin of pysanky; gorgeous illustrations.

The Story of the Easter Bunny by Katherine Tegen; illustrated by Sally Anne Lambert (2005).  The kids really like it!

Max Counts His Chickens by Rosemary Wells (2007).  So much nicer than Max's Chocolate Chicken (the one where he steals the chicken and eats it all up).  In this one he and Ruby are hunting for hot pink peep-like chicks all around the house.  "Chick! Chick! Chick!" says Max.

And The Good Master, written and illustrated by Kate Seredy (1935), Chapter 4, "Easter Eggs."  I happily read this middle-grade novel and its sequel, The Singing Tree (A Newbery Honor book), many times; this year I read the Easter chapter, always my favorite, to my own little ones.

Happy Easter!  Happy spring!

And Maple Syrup Season

Happily, Pancake Week coincides with maple syrup season.  We didn't make it to a sugaring-off this year (they happen early in the mid-Atlantic), but at least we can read this book:  Maple Syrup Season by Ann Purmell; illustrated by Jill Weber (Holiday House, 2008).  We read Purmell and Weber's Christmas Tree Farm (Holiday House, 2006) many times last December:  it was a refreshingly different holiday book, one of my new favorites.  Leo and Milly were interested in how tree farming (as opposed to the more familiar vegetable farming) works, and they loved Weber's illustrations of pines, spruces, firs, and forest animals.  Like Christmas Tree Farm, Maple Syrup Season focuses on a family tradition--of sugaring, this time--and includes lots of back matter about what to pour on your pancakes.

[Newbery note:  One of my favorite Newbery Medal winners, in memory at least, is 1957's Miracles on Maple Hill by Virginia Sorenson; illustrated by Beth and Joe Krush.  I'm rereading it now, the same copy I read as a girl; and I'll post about it here and at the Newbery Project site if I can come up with something that is more review than just happy reminiscence.]

It's Pancake Week!

This book about celebrating spring arrived last week, just in time for Maslenitsa.  What is Maslenitsa, you ask?  It's Pancake Week!  From A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox by Wendy Pfeffer; illustrated by Linda Bleck (Dutton, 2008):  "Families [in Russia] ate warm, round, golden pancakes [blini] that looked the sun.  The more butter they spread on each pancake, the hotter the sun was supposed to be during the coming summer."  We love pancakes over here and were thrilled to discover that Maslenitsa, a Russian folk and religious holiday, is being celebrated this week.  More pancakes, please!

Hmmm (mmm).  I wonder if How Mama Brought the Spring by Fran Manushkin; illustrated by Holly Berry (also Dutton, 2008) has anything to do with the Russian folk tradition of Maslenitsa (if not the religious one, obviously)?  I haven't read it yet, although I have read Elizabeth Bird's review at A Fuse #8 Production (2/22/2008).  In that book, Mama tells Rosy about how Grandma Beatrice once brought spring to Minsk by making blintzes (Rosy and Mama try the same thing in Chicago; good luck!).  Blintzes, blini:  it makes sense to me.  What do you think?

Nonfiction Monday: A New Beginning

I just ordered A New Beginning: Celebrating the Spring Equinox by Wendy Pfeffer; illustrated by Linda Bleck (Dutton, 2008).  I couldn't resist, not with the gorgeous early spring weather we're having today.  Milly even saw a robin!  I like Pfeffer's other books about the seasons, We Gather Together: Celebrating the Harvest Season (also illustrated by Bleck; it's in our fall book basket) and The Shortest Day: Celebrating the Winter Solstice (illustrated by Jesse Reisch; I posted about it here).  A New Beginning offers the same combination of scientific information about spring (when the days get longer, the growing season begins, and animals have their babies); and historical or cultural background about springtime celebrations around the world (including the Chinese New Year, Passover, and Easter).  Activities, crafts, and recipes at the back of the book.  I hope we have time to try some of these before spring arrives!