I know I’ve mentioned some of our favorite Resurrection Day/Easter books in the past few weeks. I know I’ve even blogged about some of them over the years. But as I was looking through my archives, they were not all put together in one nice spot. Until today! If you’re looking for some books that tell the story of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, you have come to the right place!

1. Benjamin’s Box

Leigh did a beautiful post about this book a few years ago. It goes perfectly with the Resurrection Eggs. You can probably find this one at your local Christian bookstore, so run out and grab it before this weekend!

2. The Legend of the Three Trees

This is a Christmas AND Easter book which is why I love it. It tells the whole story of Jesus’ life.

It’s a beautiful story about 3 trees who want to do big things and really make a difference in the world–as a treasure box, a king’s royal ship and a sign to God. Their dreams turn out differently when they become a manger, a fishing boat and a cross. It might make you cry.

(There are several versions of this book. I have the one above. But I’d really like this one from one of my favorite authors, Angela Hunt. And this one looks nice, too. PLUS, you can see it on YouTube, too!)

3. Jesus Storybook Bible

But, you knew that already.

4. The Parable of the Lily

And again.

5. See With Me Bible

Asa has read this for naps and bedtimes every single day for the past 6 nights. He says, “I know which story I want to read. Jesus dying on the cross.” He LOVES this book. You will appreciate the detail the illustrator has put into cartoon pictures!

{Apparently, this book is out of print. It’s $25+ on Amazon. I found it for $11 on CBD.com but it’s in Spanish, which I guess doesn’t really matter as it’s 99% wordless. The illustrator, Dennis Jones also did my favorite Kids’ Bible called The SuperHero Bible. This would be a good gift for Easter, too!}

6. The Story of the Easter Robin

This one is kind of a hard one for little kids because it’s a folktale within the real Easter story. But I still like it because it’s low on the Easter-bunny side of things. Here’s my original review!

7. Easter In The Garden

This is one of my favorites. The illustrations are adorable, the story is sweet, serious and funny. It’s another one that is a fictional story based during the true story of Jesus’ death and resurrection. It’s told from a child’s perspective and that’s why I think it works so well for kids!

8. Easter, Easter Almost Here!

This is a Palm Sunday book and I am bummed because I cannot find the book this year! It’s a fun board book told in rhyme with some modern, sparkly illustrations. This is a great one for littles–and one you’ll be able to quote after a few times through!

9. The Easter Story

This is a straightforward telling of Holy Week. It’s fun because it’s got flaps to lift and has non-scary pictures of the cross.

10. Journey, Easter Journey!

Dandi Daley Mackall is one of my favorite authors. This book is similar to her Thanksgiving book in that it is a rhyme with a repeated phrase. This book is super cool to me because it begins with Christmas and even includes Jesus trip to Egypt as a baby! The illustrations are a little weird to me but I really like the story and rhyme!

Bonus:

The Very First Easter {I’ve actually never read this, but IYK contributor, Leigh posted about it once!}

The Story of the Resurrection Eggswith Miss Pattycake {My kids love Miss Pattycake and if you have the Resurrection Eggs, this is a fun board book to go with them!}

I kinda get riled up about Easter books. So many of them show a bunny, a basket full of eggs and then say, “What is Easter really about?” And all that is fine. It’s good! I want kids to see the differences. But oh, how I want them to know, internalize and love the REAL story of Jesus. The real story of the Resurrection is the best story of all and has stood alone for centuries!

Are there any I’m missing? What’s your favorite Jesus-centered Easter Resurrection Day book for kids?

Our awesome unEaster Basket giveaway is still going on! And don’t forget to check out all our Sense of the Resurrection activities plus, Meaningful Easter posts from more than 50 fabulous bloggers!

linked to Top Ten {Tuesday}

Remember our unEaster Basket tradition? This week get ready to find and win lots of cool Bible-based, faith-building, Christ-centered gifts for you and your kids!

I’m very passionate about hanging up God’s Word and reminders of God’s Word throughout my house. Even if they are only construction paper signs, I still want them plastered everywhere! I take Deuteronomy 6:4-9 seriously:

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. (NIV)

I want my kids to see Jesus and reminders of Him everywhere I can. Including in our wardrobes. I gotta tell you, I’m still a fan of a good Christian Tshirt! And of course, I love jewelry that shows us God’s love.

Last year, in Lydia’s unEaster Basket, I gave her a pink cross necklace. I feel like Lydia really got the crucifixion and resurrection last year. I think it was a perfect gift to help her remember and reflect on the miracle of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Only Jesus could turn a symbol of torture into a symbol of love. Only Jesus could make a cross say LIFE and LOVE.

The other day I found this lovely flowering cross necklace by Lisa Leonard on Pinterest. I repinned it immediately because, well, clearly, I love it. And now I am happy to say, this lovely cross is firmly around my neck! It’s a big, chunky, yummy necklace that I cannot wait to show off!

What I love even more about this necklace is the back…

This is Love. Isn’t that true? A cross shouldn’t equal love. But it does. The cross is love. Jesus’ bloody, horrific death is LOVE.

After my repin and a quick conversation with Lisa Leonard, she offered to give away a This Is Love cross to one happy Impress Your Kids reader! I am ridiculously excited about this! What a lovely gift to tuck into your daughter’s Easter basket, give as a special present to a growing girl or for you to wear on Easter Sunday or (like me) everyday to remind you and your kids that THIS IS LOVE!

To be entered to win the “This is Love” necklace from Lisa Leonard, simply sign up for Lisa’s newsletter! Once you’ve signed up LEAVE ME A COMMENT saying you’ve done it! {And BONUS, when you do, you’ll receive a 15% off coupon for your next order! }

If you’d like an extra entry, leave me a comment when you do the following (one comment for each):

1. Tweet: I found the perfect Easter jewelry from @lisaleonard. Hope I win it from @impressyourkids! http://bit.ly/LLnecklace

2. Subscribe (or be a subscriber) to Impress Your Kids via email or a feedreader.

I’ll draw a winner on Monday, April 2! Contest closed!

 

Disclosure: Lisa Leonard sent me a necklace in return for this post. But as you can see, I initiated the Lisa-Leonard-love on Pinterest!

Tonight after dinner, the kids and I snuggled on the couch to read the next section of Jesus’ life. We picked up right after Mary’s story and read about Jesus and his disciples celebrating the Passover together (Matthew 26, Mark 14 and Luke 22). We read Matthew and Mark directly from the Bible–that’s very important to me. I want my kids to be familiar with a real Bible even when they are too young to read it.

As we read, they picked up on lots of different senses–Judas’ money (touch) and dirty feet (smell) and the dinner with bread and wine (taste). I wish we had enough time (and energy) to do every bit of the story, but tonight we focused on the bread. Jesus is eating the Passover meal with his disciples and takes the bread breaks it and says,

“This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

We talked about how Jesus’ body would be broken and given for us when he was crucified. We also talked about when Jesus said he was the Bread of Life.

Then, I went even further and pulled out a Passover Seder book. It’s something I picked up at a bookstore for like $2. It’s about a modern day Jewish family who celebrate Passover–it honestly doesn’t even say anything about God. But it introduces all the food and the traditions of the day. So, we looked through that book and remembered the Israelite’s deliverance from slavery. This led us to the unleavened bread God commanded them to make which led us to Matzo bread.

*whew*

It was quite the journey of a conversation!

What I really wanted to do was make matzo bread and have the kids eat it, knowing that Jesus probably ate something similar at the Last Supper and that it was a symbol of His sacrifice for us.

We make our own bread anyway, so I thought I could do it. I followed a recipe. Alas, it did not come out well.

So, we chucked the matzo dough and pulled out some bread Lydia made the day before. I softened some butter while the kids poked holes in the bread (they really wanted it to look like matzo bread!). Then we sat down on the rug and ate the bread together. We talked about the Last Supper, about breaking the bread and drinking the wine.

Then, because I felt like the “experience” I wanted to have hadn’t happened, we stopped and prayed thanking Jesus for giving his body up for us.

To wrap it all up, we read the story of the Last Supper in the The Jesus Storybook Bible (seriously, if you don’t have this book yet–BUY IT NOW!) and I just love it. She cleans up all the crazy stuff I tried to tell the kids into a nice neat package,

“‘My body is like this bread. It will break,’ Jesus told them. “This cup of wine is like my blood. It will pour out.”

“But this is how God will rescue the whole world. My life will break and God’s broken world will mend. My heart will tear apart–and your hearts will heal. Just as the passover lamb died, so now I will die instead of you. My blood will wash away all of your sins. And you’ll be clean on the inside–in your hearts.”

Emphasis mine. Because wow, that’s so good!

:: :: ::

My suggestion for a better Bread activity…

I’d buy a fancy loaf of bread from a bakery. (Or bake some if you do that!) You can heat it up in the oven, cut it up (or let the kids tear off big pieces–you know, break it!) and sit around the table eating the bread and tasting what Jesus and his disciples tasted that night.

If your kids are younger, you can simply mention the Scripture above and eat the bread. You don’t have to go through the long trail I went through with the Passover and Bread of Life and all of that. However, I do think it’s important. The symbolism God set up in the Old Testament times is just amazing. I want to communicate that to my kids. But don’t get overwhelmed with details!

If your kids are older and your church-tradition is ok with it–you could even do a family communion time. If my husband had been home and Asa was a few years older, I think we would have done that. Lydia really got the symbolism and would have been serious had we done it together at home.

 I put together a A Sense of the Resurrection page where I will update all the posts as I publish them. It also includes a supply list (which you can cut/paste now but I’ll make downloadable when I’m done) and some additional links to supplies and resources we used. I hope that helps! Please feel free to share (via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter or whatever) about this series, I’d love to have lots of families involved!

bread photo by melystu text by me