Virginia Theological Seminary

Children’s Spring & Easter Books

These are truly wonderful books—I love all of them! Many are out-of-print, but are only listed if they are readily available on the secondary book market. Copies in good condition can often be found at reasonable prices.

Out-of-print books may be found in libraries or the used book market. Both Amazon and BookFinder.com are helpful sources.

• = some of our favorites

  • • Lilies, Rabbits, and Painted Eggs: The Story of the Easter Symbols

    Barth, Edna
    Houghton Mifflin, 1970, new edition 2001
    New York, New York

    Older elementary children

    Everything about the season and the day: Christian customs and folk traditions, nicely illustrated

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • Home for a Bunny

    Brown, Margaret Wise
    Golden Press

    Racine, Wisconsin

    Preschool

    A little bunny looks for a home, nice repetition and friendship

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • The Runaway Bunny

    Brown, Margaret Wise
    Harper & Row, 1942, 1972
    New York, New York

    This is my favorite children's book—I've given it many times as a baby gift together with "Goodnight Moon." This one, though, is deeply theological for no matter what the little bunny does to run away, his mother will be transformed to be with him; a lovely analogy for God's love and care.

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • The Golden Bunny: and 17 other stories & poems

    Brown, Margaret Wise
    A Golden Book; Western Publishing Company, 1953, 1966, 1981
    New York, New York
    Racine, Wisconsin

    Gentle stories of bunnies, offering security and comfort

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • The Golden Egg Book

    Brown, Margaret Wise
    Simon & Schuster, 1947, 2004
    New York, New York

    Popular classic tale of the little lonely bunny who finds and egg—and a friend. I loved this book as a child in a large format edition, 10x13-inches, that I still have

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • Pancakes & Painted Eggs: A book for Easter and all the days of the Year

    Chapman, Jean
    Hodder and Stoughton, 1981

    Elementary age and up

    A nicely illustrated anthology of story, song, background information and craft ideas, too.

  • Nina's Treasures

    Czernecki, Stephen and Timothy Rhodes
    Sterling Publishing Company, 1990
    New York, New York

    A fantasy Ukrainian story of an old woman and her hen, beautifully illustrated with Ukrainian-motif folk art

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • My First Easter

    dePaola, Tomie
    G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1990, 2008
    New York, New York

    Preschool

    Simple little board book introduces Easter symbols with engaging illustrations

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • The Story of Easter

    Fisher, Aileen
    HarperTrophy, 1997

    Nicely illustrated picture book for older children

    Tells the biblical Easter story and Easter customs from around the world

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • Easter

    Gibbons, Gail
    Holiday House, 1989, 1991
    New York, New York

    Elementary age

    Perennially popular book, colorful, engaging illustrations with text that fully explains the holiday

  • Easter Eggs by the Dozens! Fun and Creative Egg-Decorating Projects for All Ages!

    Hart, Rhonda Massingham
    Storey Communications, Inc., 1993
    Pownal, Vermont

    Multiple suggestions row decorating with wax, dye, etching & scratching, painting & printing, glue-ons, cut-aways and more; basic information and symbolism included

  • Easter Buds are Springing: Poems for Easter

    Hopkins, Lee Bennett; illustrated by Tomie dePaola
    Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1979
    New York, New York

    Elementary age

    Nice little anthology of Easter poems

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • Petook: An Easter Story

    Houselander, Caryll, illustrated by Tomie dePaola
    Holiday House, 1988
    New York, New York

    Beautiful, evocative, subtle Easter story with the wonder of the resurrection

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • The Day When God Made Church

    Hutto, Rebekah McLeod
    Paraclete Press, 2016
    Brewster, Massachusetts

    All ages

    Wonderful description of the sights and sounds of the first Pentecost.

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • This Was The Day! A Ukrainian Easter Story

    Kmit, Ann
    1931

    Brightly illustrated story of Ukrainian Easter customs, including making Pysanky.

    Purchase from Ukrainian Gift Shop

  • The Egg Tree

    Milhous, Katherine
    Charles Scribner's Sons, 1950, 1978, 1992

    Elementary age

    The gentle Caldecott Medal book tells of Pennsylvania Dutch Easter and children making an egg tree

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • Easter: The King James Version

    Pienkowski, Jan
    Alfred A. Knopf, 1989

    Older children's picture book; all ages

    Careful text selection, beautifully illustrated with silhouette images

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • Renchenka's Eggs

    Polacco, Patricia
    Philomel Books, 1988
    New York, New York

    Early elementary

    Gentle story of Russian Babushka and the goose Renchenka and miracles that may come at Easter; Ukrainian-style illustrations

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • Sad News Glad News: Easter-time Prayers for Little Children

    Rock, Lois
    Lion Publishing, 1997
    London, United Kingdom

    Tells the Easter story in a gentle accessible way for children; not really a book of prayers.

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • An Easter Alphabet

    Tarlow, Nora
    G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1991

    All ages

    Alphabet poem illustrated with vintage pictures of children and bunnies at springtime

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • The Easter Story

    Wildsmith, Brian
    Knopf; Eerdmans, 1993

    All ages

    Stunning illustration in large-format book tell the Easter story, beginning with the donkey for the entry into Jerusalem. The donkey follows all the events through to the Ascension.

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • The True Cross

    Wildsmith, Brian
    Oxford University Press, 1977, 1987

    Beautifully illustrated legend of the Tree of Life and the True Cross

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • The Rabbits' Wedding

    Williams, Garth
    Harper & Row, 1958
    New York, New York

    Gentle story of friendship and love leading to commitment

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • The Bunny who Found Easter

    Zolotow, Charlotte
    Houghton Mifflin, 1959, 1987, 1998
    New edition with illustrations by Helen Craig
    Kindle edition, too

    Preschool, early elementary

    My all time favorite Easter story for young children, deeply theological—as the little bunny journeys to try to find Easter, in the end he comes to understand, "that Easter was not a place after all, but a time when everything lovely begins once again."

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

  • • The Bunny who Found Easter

    Zolotow, Charlotte
    Parnassus Press
    Houghton Mifflin, 1959
    Oakland, California
    Boston, Massachusetts

    Preschool, early elementary

    My all time favorite Easter story for young children, deeply theological—as the little bunny journeys to try to find Easter, in the end he comes to understand, "that Easter was not a place after all, but a time when everything lovely begins once again."

    Purchase from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk, amazon.ca

More Books About St. Nicholas
Basic Books about St. Nicholas
Picture Books for Younger Children (and all ages)
Picture Books for Older Children
Books for Older Children
Saints Books for Adults
Saints Books for Children
Activity & Resource Books
Christmas Books with St. Nicholas
Related Books
Books in Other Languages
Children's Books in Other Languages

Digital Media

Books for the Church Year and more
Church Year General Resource Books
Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Resource Books
Lent, Easter & Pentecost Resource Books
Children's Books
Church Year & Holiday Cycle Books
Christmas Books
Spring & Easter Books
Story Bibles for Children
Children's Books about God and Faith
Books of Prayers