God Gave Us Easter

I need this book. I could also see giving this book to all of my friends. What a beautiful book about the gift of Easter.

What I especially appreciate is it doesn't bash things like Easter eggs or the Easter bunny. Rather, the book uses them as examples of how we can see Jesus, how Easter was the Plan all along. What a good reminder for us adults as well

[See additional reviews from Bandings' family members after primary review]

For a family that has raised their child(ren) in a traditional Christian setting, the book "God Gave Us Easter" is a possible addition to a child's library. It discusses the "Why" of Easter (the resurrection of Jesus making possible the salvation of all who believe), though this is almost hidden within the bigger story. There are only a few pages of this book (32 pages of text & Illustrations) that directly address Easter. There are other concepts introduced on the following pages, including becoming part of "Something Bigger", references to the Root of Jesse and Noah's Ark, and prayer, all topics that are related peripherally to the Easter story. A child who has show more attended a Sunday School or who has parents who have introduced these concepts to the child might accept the abrupt changes in topic as the child would have some familiarity with what is presented. However, a child who has no foundation for understanding would likely find the concepts difficult to follow, let alone understand.

Every part of the story seems to be Biblically based, and is clearly an attempt on the part of the author to explain a concept that many adults find difficult to understand and believe. There is nothing in the story that is not Biblical, though verses are paraphrased to make the story flow rather than quoted directly from the Bible. I especially like the author's way of explaining prayer as listening to Jesus speak to our hearts.

The book's illustrations are well done, adding to rather than detracting from the story. The illustrator chose to use bears to represent people; the story primarily takes place as an ongoing conversation between Papa Bear and Little Bear. Other than clearly identifying Papa, the bears are mostly depicted as genderless; I was surprised on page 20 when Little Bear was for the first time given a female gender; I'd been thinking of Little Bear as a boy. As an author, this caught my attention; a child may not even notice the sudden identification of a girl as the main character. I found it distracting that after referring to "Little Bear" suddenly there was "she" and "her". Since the author found it possible to go 20 pages without identifying gender, I thought that should have carried through to the end of the book.

I don't know that I would buy other books by this author; if I did, I would keep in mind that they should likely go to families who have been teaching their children Biblical concepts, or to someone who is capable of explaining further if the child has additional questions about what is presented.

It is because unchurched children may have a difficult time understanding the book that I did not give it five stars. I believe the book has a limited rather than universal audience. If a new believer, for instance, wanted a book about Easter to introduce the concept for the first time to a child, I do not think "God Gave Us Easter" would be the right book to choose as an introduction to Easter.

ADDITONAL REVIEWS BY FAMILY MEMBERS
From Sister, age 57, mom/grandmother: "What is the author trying to do, go through the whole Bible?" (Spontaneous comment when finding not only the Root of Jesse but also Noah's Ark in the book about Easter.) "I would not buy this book. It's awful [referring to the multiple topics]. I would give it one star." Sister also had concerns about the page describing us as being part of "Something Bigger"; she read it as a cultish concept.

From Niece, 30, soon-to-be-mom: "Too many different subjects. I would not read this to my child. One star."

From Niece's husband, 34, soon-to-be-dad: "Incongruent. Leaps from subject to subject. I would not get this for my child. Two stars." show less

This was a nice book. I've only read one in the series and not a seasonal one, so it was a bit different. I thought the images made the story a bit uneven, but overall I liked it and thought it was a nice introduction to Easter for children. For example: the Paper Bear and Little Bear are 'naked' throughout the story, even when they go out into the snow and then go swimming (presumably in the Arctic), but get dressed to go to bed so they can be snuggly. What? I don't think kids would notice this, though. The other part I found odd was that they're getting ready for bed, but suddenly go for a walk, which turns into a boat trip to the ocean. Again, not a big deal; it was just a little weird. Text-wise, the only part that really bothered show more me was ' "...God forgives us when we make bad choices." / "All of us?" / "Everyone who believes in him. / That's how God gave us Easter." ' I think that's an over simplification since one of the miracles of Easter is that God forgives us even before we believe, but how would one really explain that in a children's book? show less

God Gave Us Easter begins with the Easter bunny and chocolate eggs but quickly and briefly redirects back to the main point of Easter: Jesus' death and resurrection. It covers sin and God's forgiveness, and life and death in general. This makes it a good choice for a child who has lost a loved one. It also includes the beginning of Noah's Arc and starting new. Overall, this feels more like a general book about God than one about Easter.

Recommended age: 4-6 years

Writing style: The story is written as a conversation between a Papa bear and its Little Cub. There is a lot of text crammed into the page. It also uses a lot of analogies, like an egg cracking like Jesus' tomb or how a pinecone spreading its seeds to grow a new tree is like the show more resurrection.

Lexile score: AD5000L
Decoding difficulty: 4/5
Vocabulary difficulty: 4/5
Sentences difficulty: 4/5
Patterns difficulty: 5/5

Illustration style: Beautiful illustrations with good variety. Some are full pages, some are small illustrations between blocks of text, and some have cute borders. The text on many of the full-page illustrations is hard to read.

Reality-based: The story is told by polar bears instead of humans, but the message is correct. show less

From the cover, through the rest of the book, the illustrations are just beautiful and draw the reader into the story. Unfortunately the story, although primarily about Easter, gets a bit jumbled in the middle of the book when other biblical stories are added to the mix. The book's audience is identified as 3-8, for some children, even with a church background the additional stories could cause some confusion. Yet, the ending, where Papa Bear encourages Little Bear "to listen with her heart" is a powerful way to encourage children to be intentional in their own way. I will definitely read this book to my niece.

I received this book from a Librarything.com giveaway. I was excited to receive it, but somewhat disappointed in it once I read it. It is confusing, especially for a child. The author tried to give the overall, broad picture of the Gospel, rather than focus on the actual event of the resurrection of Christ. That's not a bad thing, in general, but in a book obviously written for young children, it just results in confusion.

It's amazing how the author can take a complex thought, like the meaning of Easter and break it down in a simple way so that children can understand why God gave us Easter. Little Cub and his sister have a fun time talking about the Easter bunny and candy, but there's so many sensitive questions children need to talk about, like letting go and moving on and Lisa Tawn Bergren answers them tenderly, yet so skillfully. I especially like the part about Little Cub hearing the voice of Jesus.