About the Preschool Book

It can be confusing to a preschooler why we celebrate Easter and how easter eggs and the easter bunny fit in with Jesus Christ's resurrection. This is a simple book that explains the origin of Easter and includes the story of Christ's life, death and resurrection. It also explains why we use many of the symbols such as eggs and lilies at Easter time as well as the pagan origins of this Easter celebration.

From the Reviewer

Like Christmas, Easter is a holiday that mixes together a pagan holiday with a Christian event. So it's not surprising that our preschoolers might get Jesus Christ and the Easter bunny confused. This book helps explain the reasons for celebrating easter and the traditions we follow on this day.

If you do want your child to keep believing in the Easter bunny, there is one page you may want modify slightly as you are reading aloud, or discuss how lucky the children were to actually see the Easter bunny. According to the author, the legend of the Easter bunny began when a woman dyed eggs for her children at Easter and hid them in a nest. As the children found the nest, a big rabbit hopped away. Of course they thought the bunny had brought the eggs!

Whether or not you are a Christian, this book is a wonderful introduction for preschoolers on why we celebrate Easter. It's important to expose your children to other people, ideas and religions, as well as your own. The book is a very interesting history on the origins of Easter and you may even learn a few things!

Book Details

Title: Easter

Reading Level: Ages 4 - 8

Paperback: 32 pages

Publisher: Holiday House; Reprint edition (March 1991)

Language: English

ISBN: 0823408663

Helpful Tips for Parents

• Children's picture books are not dumbed-down literature — the best ones (Where the Wild Things Are, Charlotte's Web, Goodnight Moon) reward re-reading across decades.

• Surround children with books — in the bedroom, living room, car, waiting bags. Accessible books get read; books in storage don't.

• Don't stop picture books when children start reading independently. Picture books remain intellectually appropriate through age 10+ — the illustrations carry information words cannot.

• Poetry is the highest-density language exposure available in children's literature. A poem that takes 60 seconds to read delivers the vocabulary, rhythm, and craft of far longer prose.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many books should I read to my preschooler per day?

The volume is less important than the consistency. Even one book per day, read with engagement and followed by brief conversation, delivers significant developmental benefit. Many families read 3–5 books at bedtime plus additional books throughout the day — this is excellent and associated with the strongest reading outcomes. If you can only manage one daily reading session, make it consistent, engaged, and joyful rather than perfunctory.

When should I switch from picture books to chapter books?

Chapter books don't replace picture books — they extend the reading menu. Most children enjoy having a chapter book read aloud starting around age 4–5, even before they can read independently. Picture books remain appropriate through childhood (and adulthood — they're literature, not a developmental stage to be exited). When introducing chapter books: choose ones with short chapters, interesting characters, and immediate plot engagement. The Magic Tree House, Frog and Toad, and Flat Stanley series are reliable first chapter book series.

Related reading: See also our library tips guide and our picture books for empathy for more ideas on this topic.

🎓 Skills Your Child Will Develop

• 🗣️ Language Fluency — Exposure to the complex sentence structures, rich vocabulary, and varied grammatical patterns of written language — more complex than everyday speech — builds linguistic fluency that distinguishes strong readers and communicators.
• 💬 Vocabulary Expansion — Books deliver vocabulary 3–4x more efficiently than conversation — introducing words children would rarely encounter in everyday speech and building the word knowledge that is the single strongest predictor of reading comprehension.
• ❤️ Empathy & Emotional Intelligence — Experiencing a character's feelings, understanding their motivations, and seeing how they navigate challenges develops the theory of mind and empathy that underlie healthy relationships, moral reasoning, and social intelligence.
• 🔢 Story Structure Understanding — Following a story's arc — beginning, problem, resolution, ending — builds the narrative schema that makes complex texts comprehensible and supports children's own storytelling and writing development.

Easter

By Gail Gibbons

From the Preschool Book

"Easter is a religious holiday and much more. It is also a time of hope and joy."

Questions to Ask Your Child

Use these open-ended prompts to extend the learning during or after the activity:

• "What was your favorite part of the story, and why?"
• "If you could step into the book, where would you go?"
• "How would you have solved the problem if you were the main character?"
• "What do you think happens after the story ends?"
• "Does this book remind you of anything from your own life?"
• "If you could ask the author one question, what would it be?"

There are no right or wrong answers to any of these questions. The goal is to keep the conversation going, model curious thinking, and give your child practice putting their experience into words.