Kids' Passover and Easter Book Recommendations

There may be a ‘shelter in place’ order now but that doesn’t stop the upcoming celebrations for Easter and Passover! While both holidays are about delivery from a state of despair, both also celebrate spring and hope. Here’s a list of books specially selected by Book Passage.

EASTER

Hop Little Bunnies

By Martha Mumford

Wake up, animals! Join four adorable bunnies as they rouse their sleepy animal friends. Because there are times to be quiet--and times to be loud! Beneath lift-the-flaps on almost every page, readers will hop with bunnies, cheep with chicks, baa with lambs, and meow with kittens.

The Good Egg Presents: The Great Eggscape!

By Jory John

Shel (an egg) isn’t a huge fan of group activities, especially when he’s made to be “It” for a game of hide-and-seek. Nevertheless, Shel doesn’t want to let his friends down, so he reluctantly plays, anyway. But after a morning of hiding and seeking, somebody’s still missing. Will the dozen eggs friends ever be reunited?

Find out in this hilarious egg hunt adventure that reminds us to break out of our shells and help our friends in need!

Nesting

By Henry Cole

In this black-and-white picture book highlighted with robin’s egg blue, the reader will follow two robins as they build a nest with twigs and grass. Then mother robin lays four beautiful blue eggs and will keep the eggs warm in the nest until they hatch into four baby robins. The father robin protects the babies until they can fly on their own. The perils the babies encounter are many, including snakes and storms. The nest is always their safe place.

E Is for Easter (Board Books)

By Greg Paprocki

Introduce your brilliant baby to the ABCs with this colorfully illustrated primer about the joys of Easter. In the latest alphabet primer from artist Greg Paprocki, Easter and the rites of spring are celebrated with Paprocki's wonderful colorful and vintage-looking illustrations. Your toddlers can enjoy illustrations of such things as the Easter Bunny, baskets overflowing with candy, children decorating Easter eggs, an Easter egg hunt, and beautiful springtime flowers.

Betty Bunny Loves Easter

By Michael Kapla

Betty Bunny is back, and she’s still a “handful,” according to her family. Betty loves Easter, and she desperately wants to be the Easter Bunny when she grows up. Trouble is, her egg-finding skills leave a lot to be desired. But she doesn’t want her helpful siblings to fill her basket—she wants to find the eggs by herself.

Here Comes the Easter Cat

By Deborah Underwood

The lovable and lazy cat from Here Comes Santa Cat is back, and now has his eye on the Easter Bunny’s job. But as the narrator explains his new duties, the cat decides that the job is much more work than he expected—and doesn’t leave much time for naps.

Llama Llama Easter Egg

By Anna Dewdney

The Easter Bunny brings Llama lots of treats, including jelly beans and colorful eggs. The best surprise of all comes when Llama peeks into the bushes and finds a nest with three beautiful blue robin’s eggs—and they’re hatching!

Click, Clack, Peep!

By Doreen Cronin

Farmer Brown’s farm (from Click, Clack, Moo) has a new, adorable, and LOUD duckling to deal with. This little puff of fluff just won’t go to sleep, and his play-with-me “peeps” are keeping the whole barnyard awake with him. What finally puts the little cheeper to sleep? Tractor rides, back and forth across the farm—just like a baby in a stroller.

PASSOVER

Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail

By Leslea Newman

Inside, a boy and his family sit around the dinner table to embrace the many traditions of their Passover Seder around the dinner table. Outside, a cat wonders, hungry and alone. When it's time for the symbolic Passover custom of opening the family's front door for the prophet Elijah, both the boy and the cat are in for a remarkable surprise.

The Passover Mouse

By Joy Nelkin Wieder

In this charming and witty Passover story about kindness, community, tradition, and forgiveness, a little mouse disrupts a town's preparations for the holiday when it steals a piece of leavened bread—or chometz—just as all the houses have been swept clean in time for the holiday.

Miriam at the River

By Jane Yolen

Giving her baby brother a kiss, brave little Miriam places Moses's basket into the river. With one quick push, she sends him into the water, hoping her wish will come true and her brother will be saved from Pharaoh's orders.

Here is the World: A Year of Jewish Holidays

By Leslea Newman

This lovely picture book is a joyous celebration of Jewish holidays throughout the year for younger children. Beginning with the weekly ritual of Shabbat, readers join a Jewish family through the seasons of the year and the corresponding holidays.

The Story of Passover

By David Adler

The story of how Moses led his people out of slavery is rendered in simple text and vibrant illustrations. Also includes backmatter explaining the traditional Seder.

Pippa's Passover Plate

By Vivian Kirkfield

Sundown is near, and it's almost time for the Seder to begin-- but where is Pippa's special Passover plate?

A charming story with a happy ending, Pippa's Passover Plate pairs simple, rhyming text with bright paintings by Jill Weber, illustrator of The Story of Passover and The Story of Esther. In bravely facing her animal neighbors, this adorable little mouse finds not only her missing Seder plate-- but new friends.