Favorite Posts #8 - Books for Lent & Easter

As we approach Lent and Easter, I thought seeing this post would be particularly helpful. In my next post, I’ll add to these lists of PBT books, giving you links to more PBT books about Lent and Easter that I’ve featured more recently. 

For those of us who are liturgical Christians, Ash Wednesday is upon us. This solemn day begins the season of Lent, a period of 40 days (not counting Sundays) that symbolically represents Christ’s 40 days in the wilderness. This season guides us through Holy Week in preparation for Easter. 

At PBT, I’ve offered many picture books that you might want to choose to read during this season to help children connect in new ways to the concepts we consider and the events we remember during Lent and Easter. I’ve listed them below with a guiding connection that will help you tie the Biblical concepts/stories to the content of the picture book. 

These books are not meant to be perfect reflections of the Biblical concepts/stories. Instead they are offered as tools to encourage conversation, exploration, and application. For each, enjoy the secular story then let it lead you to more meaningful consideration of theological or spiritual possibilities. I’ve listed the book titles which serve as links to the PBT post. Books for the youngest audiences are listed first.

Lent (in general)

Lent is a time for remembering that Jesus fasted and prayed in the wilderness for 40 days and found clarity and strength to resist temptation. Therefore, during Lent we focus on intentional prayer, fasting, and service. Fasting is viewed generally as refraining from something (not just food) that distracts you from God. With a sense of repentance (returning to God), we re-focus our lives to be more like Jesus.

Make connections with these stories and the concept of refraining from distractions or temptations in order to live more generously, like Jesus:

Curious George Saves His Pennies     

Strega Nona                                             

A Chair for My Mother                          

Extra Yarn                                                

My Mouth is a Volcano                         

These are great books about prayer:

Does God Hear My Prayer?                 

Beautiful Moon: A Child’s Prayer       

Ash Wednesday

In an Ash Wednesday worship service, the sign of the cross is made with ashes in order to recognize our mortality so that we may humbly begin Lent committed to make changes and determined to be more like Jesus.

These stories connect well with the concept of humility:

Bear Has a Story to Tell                        

The Three Questions                               

Albert                                                         

Those Shoes                                              

Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday is a celebration of the hope that Jesus brings and an offering of the praise that he deserves. Here I’m offering books about both of these concepts: hope and praise.

Tie these concepts to the story of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem.

    About Hope:

Hope is an Open Heart                          

If You Want to See a Whale                  

And Then It’s Spring                              

A Child’s Garden                                     

We Shall Overcome                                

Hope Springs                                           

About Praise:

I Will Rejoice                                            

Let’s Make a Joyful Noise                   

All God’s Critters                                     

The Hallelujah Flight                             

Jesus’s Anger at the Money Changers

Children need clarification when it comes to how to deal with their anger. When Jesus sees the money changers whose greed is spoiling the purposes of the Temple, he gets violently angry.

Here’s the best story I know for children about anger:

When Sophie Gets Angry…                     

The Upper Room (Maundy Thursday)

The story of Jesus in the Upper Room with his disciples is a foundational story in the Christian faith. You have the first communion (the elements and a call to remember) and Jesus washing his disciples’ feet (a call to service).

Delve into the components of the Upper Room story with these books: 

Hands Say Love                                        

Bread Comes to Life                                 

The Memory String                                  

Uncle Willie & the Soup Kitchen            

Washing the Willow Loon                       

The Garden of Gethsemane

The focus on this event is usually Jesus’ prayer, but here I offer a book about what Jesus’ disciples did not do for him in the garden.

This is the best book I know about being with friends when they are suffering and doing what they need you to do:

A Sick Day for Amos McGee                   

Peter Denies Knowing Jesus

This story is about Peter’s deceit and shame.

Here I offer a delightful picture book about being shamed and lying about who you are:

Unlovable                                                    

Golgotha

Connect these picture books with the story of Jesus on the cross.

These books are either about the concepts of sacrifice, giving, forgiveness or death:

One Winter’s Day                                      

The Friend                                                   

Stone Soup                                                   

Badger’s Parting Gifts                              

The Grudge Keeper                                    

Our Tree Named Steve                              

The Goodbye Boat                                      

The Giving Tree                                          

Easter

The pivotal event of the Christian faith is a celebration of joy, beauty, and possibility.

These wonderful feelings can easily be connected to these picture books:

AnnaHibiscus Song                                  

MorningHas Broken                                

WinterMoon Song                                     

YesDay!                                                        

Waitingfor Wings                                      

Whata Wonderful World                         

TheGardener                                               

Community as Tutorial for Peace

Picture Book: Peace is an Offering

Author: Annette LeBox

Illustrator: Stepanie Graegin 

Summary: These simple rhyming phrases explore the concept of peace via ordinary, loving gestures in a neighborhood setting, the place where young children would most understand peace. Generous acts like visiting and serving someone in need 

and enjoying God's gifts of nature with friends, instruct young children to notice how peace is abundant. 

This book explains in simple terms that gratitude and contemplation are important tools for peace, 

 as is affection 

 and being at table together.

This diverse community of children (and sometimes their parents) are shown engaging in thoughtful acts, 

companionship rituals, 

hospitality, 

 play,

and even strategic avoidance of violence.

 

You’ll find a reference to 9/11/01, but it is subtle and isn’t likely to be disturbing to young children.  

Hope and joy are interwoven in this text and the images are comforting.

 

Hanna’s Comments: These are fear-ridden times. Sometimes the loudest messages of fear come from faith families; young children often overhear these. Instead, I believe the place where children first worship and learn about God should be grounded in peace and love. We have many children riddled with anxiety. Their worship communities can address some of their fears and offer God's hope instead. The key to this heartwarming book are messages of abundance and calls to be sensitive to another’s needs while contemplating with gratitude the beauty of our world. Here be reminded that when loving acts occur, peace can be found. Opportunities for such acts are everywhere, especially in your neighborhood, but also with those you love most, like those in your faith family.

Original Publisher & Date: Dial, 2015

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 3 and up, Pre and up

Formats other than Book: Tablet

Scripture Connections: Give and it will be given to you(Luke 6:38); I came that you may have abundant life (John 10:10); …so far as it depends on you, live peaceable with all (Romans 12:18); may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing (Romans 15:13); the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:12); every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (James 1:17)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a group of young children to explore what peace looks like in community, school, home, or your faith family. 

Three Spiritual Practices

Picture Book: Lilla’s Sunflowers

Author & Illustrator: Colleen Rowan Kosinski

Summary: Lilla and her father especially enjoy the time they spend in her sunflower patch. 

When Papa leaves for a tour in the military, Lilla gives him a single sunflower seed to remember her. 

The coming days without her father are very hard for Lilla. She uses the sunflowers to remind her of her papa. 

As the sunflowers droop in their season, Lilla’s faith that her father will return also wanes. 

When birds attack the flowers, she is especially distraught. 

Then she receives a letter from Papa with a photo of the sunflower he grew and a message of coming home. 

He does come home, and together they plant more sunflowers. In spring, Lilla’s sunflowers bloom and many letters are received. 

Papa explains how the sunflower was such a “bright spot for everyone” that his friends are sending photos from their homes with their families and the sunflowers they had grown thanks to the seeds of Lilla’s sunflower.

The photo above finds Lilla satisfied to have her papa home and pleased that one seed that she offered then grew to bring so much joy. 

Hanna’s Comments: Today is Veteran’s Day in the USA so I offer this book as a personal thank you and reminder of the costs and difficult journeys we require of those in the military and their families. Read this book to a group of children, teens, or adults in your faith community who are choosing to remember the sacrifices of veterans. 

You can also use this book to illustrate important spiritual practices such as affirmation, gratitude, and remembering. Remembrance is not just for those who have died but for those whose stories we find valuable during their lifetimes. Strong connections across generations and congregations are built on such storytelling, affirmation, and gratitude for lives well-spent in service. 

A highlight of this book is its focus on Lilla’s feelings. Anytime you can talk about the feelings of a character, you offer the possibility of connecting to feelings in your audience. If these feelings are then connected to faith, they are even more meaningful.

Original Publisher & Date: Sky Pony Express, 2016

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 3 and up, Pre and up

Formats other than Book: Tablet

Scripture Connections:  All things work together for good (Romans 8:28); I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers (Ephesians 1:16); be thankful as you are called in one body (Colossians 3:15); every good gift and every perfect gift is from above (James 1:17); The Passover and Last Supper rituals are rituals of remembering and thanksgiving.

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book during a time of remembrance for those in the military and their families who have sacrificed for you. Then teach the importance of spiritual practices such as affirmation, gratitude, and remembering. 

Vocation and Rocks in Pockets

Picture Book: Rocks in His Head

Author: Carol Otis Hurst

Illustrator: James Stevenson

Summary:  This story is about the author’s father who has been a passionate rock collector since his pre-depression childhood. 

Not understanding the economic or learning potential for the subject of rocks, all joke about him having rocks in his head and his pockets. 

He's always ready to show an interesting rock to anyone who wants to see and learn. 

Throughout his early professional life as the owner of a “filling station” and a Model-T mechanic, rocks are in the background, literally displayed on small shelves in the station.

When his business fails because of the Great Depression, he moves the rocks to the attic of his home. 

Between jobs, he frequently visits the rock collection at the nearby science museum to compare his collection to the one in the museum. 

When the director of the museum hears his comparison, she very much wants to see his rock collection so she climbs into his attic and is compelled to hire him, but as a janitor. 

Eventually he impresses everyone and becomes Curator of Mineralogy and serves the rest of his days communicating his passion to others.

Hanna’s Comments:  This is a story about vocation. I learned this word as a teen at church camp and understood it to be more than a job. Instead it is a God-given potential for service and even ministry. Tweens and teens are ready to learn this concept and then explore and discover how they might serve the “Kindom” of God while tapping into their passions and skills. 

Note how the main character’s journey to become a mineralogist was neither simple nor easy. Be sure to read the info. about the author; she gives some more details about her father and his vocational development.

Original Publisher & Date: Greenwillow Books, 2001

Age & Grade Appropriateness: 4 and up, Pre and up 

Formats other than Book: None at present

Scripture Connections: For it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Phil. 2:13)

Idea(s) for Application: Read this book to a group of tweens or teens and encourage them to begin considering their God-given inclinations and passions for vocational work. Consider doing a series on this concept by reading other picture books found here at PBT that tell the story of people discovering and developing their various vocations. Click on “vocation” in the large Labels section down below and you’ll find over a dozen books on this subject to consider.