Our Holy Week & Easter Book Basket

Lent has actually been going pretty well over here - we've been doing it *very* low-key, so low-key in fact that I only just got out the books and the grapevine wreath. Actually, not the grapevine wreath, because it wasn't in the box. Where did it go???

So I feel late writing this post, but at the same time... Easter is a 50-day season! So if you get any of these books now, you'll still have them out for two months and will be able to use them for years to come.

Books for Lent & Easter are tricky to find - you don't want to read books totally focusing on the Resurrection when you're meditating on the Crucifixion, and there just... Aren't that many books written for this time of year. Not like Christmas!

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Here are some of our tried-and-true favorites, all appropriate for the 6-and-under crowd:

The Tale of Three Trees - This is one that we've been gifted and have gifted ourselves. Not toddler-friendly (a little too long), but a beautiful story that is appropriate all year long. I'd say this is a must-have for your bookshelf!

Stations of the Cross for Children - This has longer meditations, more suitable for older children but I shorten them for the younger ones when I can tell attention spans are waning. We try to pray the Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent, more during Holy Week.

The Way of the Cross for Children - Again, slightly longer reflections, but easy to shorten for short attention spans. I like having multiple books with the Stations so that everybody can have one to hold while we're praying.

The Story of the Cross - Out of print, sadly. The girls especially love this one because of the illustrations and pictures of children. 

Easter - We love Fiona French's stained glass illustrations, and the text from this book is straight from Scripture, which I love.

The Easter Story (Brian Wildsmith)- The kids adore the illustrations and finding the donkey on each page, and it's detailed enough to satisfy older readers and keep younger children's attention while reading the text.

The Easter Story - Lengthy text, like most of the St. Joseph books, but another inexpensive and good one to have around.

Rechenka's Eggs - This is a classic and so, so lovely. Patricia Polacco is a favorite here, and this really makes me want to learn how to paint eggs like this!

On Easter Day in the Morning - This is another one that the girls really love - the pictures of children, the language, the excitement all really appeal to them.

The Week that Led to Easter - The kids all really like our Arch Books, but the rhyme & meter is never quite right... We still keep this out because non-readers like looking at the pictures, but it's not my favorite.

The Easter Egg - We got this from the library this year and the twins adore it so much that I might buy it for next year. You can't go wrong with Jan Brett! Not really Jesus-themed, but the theme of sacrifice is definitely there, and we don't do the Easter Bunny at all but the kids all still thought this was a fun read.

The Garden of the Good Shepherd Calendar - I can't find this one... Where did I put it??? We did it a couple of years ago and John Paul and I both really enjoyed the short daily readings and stickers to go along with it. Really nice way to remember to observe all 50 days of the Easter season, plus Tomie DePaola illustrations!

I Walk With Jesus - Michele knows exactly what it's like to have kids with short attention spans when you're trying to pray the Stations of the Cross! We used the ebook version (you can also get the pdf on Etsy) and the kids all really loved the high-quality photographs, and I felt like they could relate to them as well. It's simple and short, and makes it painless to pray the Stations of the Cross with young kids. 

And good news! Michele is giving away a PDF copy of her new book! Enter the giveaway below

 - you've got until the end of the day Wednesday:


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