On That Easter Morning

This picture book does an incredible job telling the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. I appreciate that the Pasquali stayed true to the biblical text when writing this account for children. She is able to take biblical text, which is broken up into different "scense" and weave them together into a story that flows well together. This is helpful for young children as they learn about the time leading up to Jesus' death and His subsequent resurrection. I believe it will capture their interest and keep them engaged in a much richer than if they were simply read the text from the Bible.
I also liked how the author took phrases from the Bible that might be hard for young children to understand and phrased them in a way that will help them comprehend the story. For example, the Biblical text says the soldiers cast lots to see who would keep Jesus' clothes. Pasquali's account says the soldiers "played a game", which is a concept that young children will understand.

As an early childhood educator, my one caution about this book is the length of the text. For young children, there is a lot of text. My initial reaction was hesitancy to purchase this book for our school. I am reminded however of how much our students love Bible time and are often at their stillest when listening to Bible stories. The power of God's word, coupled with lovely illustrations, I think actually makes this a book that would be enjoyed by children of all ages.

This book was a very sweet and beautifully illustrated depiction of the story of Easter. I had been looking for a picture book to share with my daughter to help her learn the meaning of Easter and although she is a bit too young for this version this year, it will be perfect to read to her next year.

Easter Morning is a special time for Christians as it gives us hope. That we were created for more and to share that with your children with vivid illustrations. The words of the bible can be a special time for growth in faith as you lead your children to Christ. His goodness, his sacrifice of love and the forgiveness of sins, we celebrate it all on Easter. We have hope because of the Resurrection. That hope enables us to love others as Christ does. There is more to the Easter story as it draws us to Jesus. Why did Jesus have to die on the cross and why the resurrection changes everything.

A Special Thank you to Lions Children Books and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

*I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, and chose to share it here. All thoughts are my own.


On That Easter Morning by Elena Pasquali is beautiful, with very engaging illustrations. As far as Easter story books go, this one goes into far more detail, and covers more events than most.

If you want to know how to explain Easter to a child, this is an excellent book to start with. The pacing is awesome. It doesn’t race through or skip major events. It also doesn’t drag or get graphic.

The real Easter story is shared, with a few passages simplified for kids. Jesus in the garden, praying, says “Yet it is not what I want that must be done, but what You want.” which is more understandable than “Not My will but Yours” is. They both may say/mean the same thing, so the phrasing just makes it a little more approachable.

I like that Peter’s betrayal is given space, as well as his conversation with Jesus after the resurrection, proving that there’s hope for us when we sin.

Most Elementary age kids would benefit from reading this storybook of the Real Easter story. It does a solid job of exploring the meaning of Easter for kids.

On That Easter Morning is aimed for children ages 5 and up and if I had a child that age I would buy them this book: It is a perfect picture book that explains what happened to Jesus on what would become that first Easter.

This full color/ full page picture novel talks about Passover, Jesus and simplifies the events that led up to his crucifixion and resurrection to where a young child can understand. It is also not graphic in the telling. This children’s book covers more than others I have seen as it includes the Last Supper, Judas kissing Jesus’ hand, Peter denying Jesus three times, Pontius Pilate, and Mary Magdalene seeing Jesus after he has risen.

There could be a lot of words on each page, so reading it to your young child would be best. That way they can take in this Easter story by listening to you and by looking at the pictures that also tell the story.

Many thanks to the publisher Lion Children’s Book for granting me a copy to read and review.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO NETGALLEY AND LION HUDSON FOR THE EBOOK TO READ AND REVIEW.

This book is wonderful for teaching your child about Easter, it is told in a simple way but shares all the vital parts of his story and if his rising.

The story showed how Jesus was just carrying in doing what God had asked of him, but found that these people weren’t all accepting and thus it all went array and they wanted to kill him.

I really liked the way it was told, with the illustrations to go with it showing the story as it went on. It made the story really fun and easy to follow and understand. If you are teaching your child about God and Jesus then this would certainly be a perfect book to read with them.

Are you looking for a children’s picture and story book on the Bible’s account of Jesus’ death and resurrection? This is one that’s worth your time and money.
What stands out to me in this book is the beautiful illustration that has a unique style of beautiful landscape background and details of the land including plants and animals. Yet it was illustrated in a way that you also see what’s the main characters are doing. After reading to my daughters my youngest asked me what was my favorite illustration which I think presupposes she enjoyed the drawing and wanted to know what I thought about it also. That led to a conversation I opened up of which pictures did they enjoy as well as what they see is going on and why did they enjoyed that specific picture. A good conservation about Jesus followed. I’m thankful that I read this book to my girls and I thank God for the conversations I have with my kids.
The story began with what various people stating what Jesus meant for them and this group include children, outcasts and the sick. Then it proceed to Palm Sunday with Jesus entering Jerusalem. I am glad they also included in the story Jesus turning over tables of the money changers since my kids had questions about that and I taught them about worship, truth and the right motivation in worshipping God, etc. Of course the moving part of the story is the death and resurrection of Christ.
NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Lion Hudson Limited and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

Beautiful illustrations! This was a detailed re-telling of the Easter story that is appropriate for children. Great way to keep Easter Christ-centered!

This book was a fabulous read for my three Children at Easter time! My children are young but they still enjoyed having the Easter Story read to them before bed.

This is the best Easter book for children that I have come across in the all the years of reading the Easter story to my children. Elena Pasquali has woven the Easter story from the Bible together in a way that honors the BIblical text and sparks a child's sense of wonder.

The illustrations are beautiful. The test is clear, well written and age appropriate. This is one to keep on the bookshelf year round!

An early copy of this book was made available to me by the publisher through netgalley. This is my honest review.

This is a beautifully illustrated book for young people about Easter. It is in simple language for children as young as 5 to be able to understand. It begins with Passover and goes through to the resurrection. It covers even the smaller details such as Judas Kissing Jesus to identify him to the soldiers, The Last Supper, Peter Denying he knows Jesus and even Mary in the Garden on Easter Morning. However, even though there are a lot of details, the graphic parts are not detailed so young children will not be upset. The illustrations, by Alison Jay are wonderful. They are large, full colour and artistic. I like the renderings of Jesus, it makes him look more middle eastern, which he was. I wanted to read this to my grandchildren for Easter, but with the Quarantine, I was unable to see them. This is one that I will be buying for my library to read not only to my grandchildren, but to read to the children in Sunday School in the upcoming years. I definitely recommend this one to Christian families, schools and churches.