Priscilla Friedrich

The Easter Bunny That Overslept, illustrated by Adrienne Adams.

Originally published in 1957, and then again in 1988 with updated illustrations by the original artist (Adrienne Adams), this cute holiday story follows the adventures of the Easter Bunny, who sleeps late one rainy Easter morning, completely missing the big day! When he eventually does awaken, he discovers that his efforts to distribute his eggs are in vain: nobody wants colored eggs on Mother's Day, the Fourth of July, or show more Halloween. The bunny, who had grown more and more discouraged, eventually lands on Santa's doorstep, where the kindly Christmas hero takes him in, gives him something to do, in the form of making toys for children, and most importantly, gives him a gift that will come in very handy next Easter.

More of a general holiday book than an exclusively Easter story - in addition to Easter, the holidays of Mother's Day, the Fourth of July, Halloween and Christmas all feature in the story - The Easter Bunny That Overslept is a title I picked up largely because of its illustrator. I am a great admirer of Adrienne Adams' work, from the illustrations she contributed to some of Rumer Godden's books - The Story of Holly and Ivy, Candy Floss - to her own enchanting (and somewhat creepy) witchy tales, A Halloween Happening and A Woggle of Witches. As expected, I greatly enjoyed the artwork here, finding the woodland scenes, both winter and summer, particularly fine. I don't think that this story would have been as appealing to me without Adams' artwork, so although I see that there is a newer version from 2002 with illustrations by Donald Saaf, and although I usually like to compare different illustrators' interpretations of the same story, I think I'll just let this one be. Recommended to young readers looking for lighthearted holiday stories, and to fellow fans of Adrienne Adams. show less

I loved the lovely art by Adrienne Adams, and am pleased to report that the scanned, free to borrow copy that is on openlibrary.org is this one. See: https://openlibrary.org/books/OL3493125M/The_Easter_bunny_that_overslept

Such sad story until the end... not scary sad or bad, but oh how a child will ache for the good-natured bunny who only wants to do his job, to make up for his mistake. Oh the rude people that shoo him away, the children that mock him, how even my jaded heart ached for the show more little hero.

But yes, there is a happy ending... one that some children might be able to guess at the beginning. Don't let them blurt it out if they are reading it with others!

A glimpse of the cover of the new edition just turns me off. It does not seem like that illustrator understood the story at all, mistakenly thinking it a cute or funny one. Skip that edition. show less

SUMMARY
The Easter Bunny slept through Easter. When he wakes up, he finds out that he missed Easter and tries to make up for it. He tries to be a Fourth-of-July Bunny and trues to give out eggs on Halloween. He was blown to Santa's house where he helped him make and deliver presents. As a gift the the Easter Bunny, Santa gave him a gold alarm clock so he never missed Easter again.

REVIEW
I felt this book gave a nice overview of various holidays. It began with Easter, went to the Fourth of July, show more moved towards Halloween, pushed onto Christmas, and ended back at Easter. I liked that it subtly showed how each of the holidays that the Easter Bunny encountered were different from Easter. For example, the police officer on the Fourth of July told him that it was no time for eggs and was a time for firecrackers and parades. I also liked that some of the illustrations were shaped in the form of an egg. I felt like it carried on the theme into the illustrations. show less

I thought that this was a very whimsical book. The main character is the Easter Bunny. He is introduced well enough that you allow yourself to go on this adventure with him and you begin to have feelings towards him. Children I think can relate to him because we have always been late before and we know how that can go. The story flows very nicely as we follow the bunny throughout the year. There are a lot of words, but they are all words that a children can read and understand. The show more illustrations are good in this book. however sometimes I feel as though they are a bit crowded and busy. But I guess it give the kids something to look as they are reading. They use a variety of colors, for the Halloween section it is all dark and spooky then once we reach the North Pole it is all happy and jolly as it should be if Santa lives there. Another aspect of this book that I enjoyed was that it shows that each holiday has its own special characteristics and traditions that don't get changed. In the end I think that children can understand that it is ok if you miss a holiday because it will always come around again next year and you can celebrate it then. It also shows kids that it is not the end of the world if you miss something because the Easter Bunny was still able to give back to the children by helping Santa deliver and make the presents for Christmas. I thought It was a great way to get a little bit of information on many holidays all in one little story. show less