Reviews: New Easter Picture Books

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Easter is just around the corner, and with that, Linda Jane Keegan and Thalia Kehoe Rowden bring you a batch of Easter-themed picture book reviews perfect for getting stuck into this weekend!

E Oma, Rāpeti / Run, Rabbit books, by Norah Wilson & Kimberly Andrews, translated by Pānia Papa

Here are three sweet and delightful rabbit books to enjoy with your tamariki. Te Wā Tākaro / Playtime, Te Rēhi / The Race, and Pō Mārie / Goodnight are simply told and beautifully illustrated tales of Rāpeti and friends. While not specifically marketed as Easter books, they are perfect for Easter and all year round. Te Wā Tākaro is told entirely in short pieces of dialogue, conveying an all-too-familiar experience of being too busy playing to go to the toilet. Te Rēhi involves a cast of supportive animal friends cheering Rāpeti on in a race—the best bit I think (spoiler alert!) is that Rāpeti doesn’t win. I haven’t managed to get my hands on Pō Mārie yet but I have no doubt it will be just as lovely as the other two, and perfect for bedtime reading.

In all three of these books, the reo Māori is presented on the page above the English text. The simple language and repetition make them a great way to learn some everyday reo. Ka pai!

Reviewed by Linda Jane Keegan.

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Granny McFlitter’s Eggcellent Easter, by Heather Haylock & Lael Chisholm

Fans of Granny McFlitter will recognise her non-stop knitting from the original Granny McFlitter: Champion Knitter, Granny McFlitter: A Country Yarn, and Granny McFlitter: The Knit Before Christmas. Much like its predecessors, Eggcellent Easter sets the scene before a problem arises, and good ol’ Granny swoops in to save the day. The vocabulary is delightful and bouncy, and fun to read aloud. Here’s a little taster:

There were magical hats

with billowing brims,

ribbons and ruffles

and fanciful trims.

The illustrations are joyously colourful, with the same lovely textures as the previous books. I loved the variety of pages filled with swirls of water or trees, interspersed with wise use of white space (and bees; I’ll let you find those for yourself!).

If I had to be critical, I would say that a few of the earlier stanzas in the story felt a bit disparate from one another. But once the parade begins, the story flows smoothly and the drama builds with the narrative eventually coming to a satisfying conclusion.

Reviewed by Linda Jane Keegan.

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Hot, Cross Bunny, by Stephanie Thatcher

This is another book that works perfectly well for Easter—especially the title!—but can also be relevant all the time. The story follows a bunny called Basil, who, when he doesn’t get his way, becomes all hot and cross. The illustrations are cute and I love Basil’s little grouchy face, though I think there could have been a bit more variety in his expressions. The balance of fully coloured pages and white space is well done and the text flows easily with the images.

What worked well in this book was: the repetition and build-up to Basil getting hotter and hotter and crosser and crosser, his unexpected change of heart towards the end, followed by a simple turning of tables when Basil’s sister gets all hot and cross instead. It ends with a little wink to the reader as well, which is always pleasing.

The story does come across (to an adult reader) as an obvious lesson, though there did seem to be a lack of repercussions for Basil’s behaviour despite this. Nevertheless it’s an enjoyable book and probably best accompanied with some edible hot cross buns straight from the oven!

Reviewed by Linda Jane Keegan.

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The Fairies’ Easter Egg Surprise, by Sarina Dickson, illustrated by Hilary Jean Tapper

This is a sweet, fresh story of a village of fairy children helping chicks to hatch at Easter, with lots of colour and interest. Hilary Jean Tapper’s illustrations are lovely, combining classic, familiar styles with modern depictions of a diverse community of families (are they fairies or humans? It doesn’t seem to matter!).

However, the whole book is sadly let down by the poor rhyming text. It’s an interesting concept for an Easter story and could have been a success if told in prose. Unfortunately, a lot of the rhymes are forced and unsatisfying, and the decision to write in rhyming couplets holds the plot back in places and distracts the reader in others—nearly every rhyming couplet fails to scan properly, making it very difficult to read aloud.

For all that, if you have a small person in mind who loves fairies, birds’ eggs, or Easter, they’ll enjoy the whimsical, modern fairy kids and their teamwork to care for the eggs.

Reviewed by Thalia Kehoe Rowden.

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