The Very First Easter

Good book to teach the kids love it came in time for easter in April thank 👍you

I was looking for a "real" Easter book for the kids. Found The Very First Easter by Paul L. Maier. I can't tell you how much my girls LOVE this book. The format is a Mom and Dad telling their son about Easter based on scripture. Both the writing and the illustrations are just excellent!!!

This book follows the same format as Paul Maier's companion book, The Very First Christmas. Maier embeds the story of the first Easter inside the story of a 10-year-old boy named Christopher, who lives with his mother and father, a forest ranger, in a remote area of America's western mountains. As Christopher and his parents are sitting around the table dying Easter eggs, Christopher wonders aloud what the true story of Easter is. His Dad picks up the Bible and the two of them begin to read aloud from the book of Luke.The narrative follows their discussion as they read, with Christopher asking questions that any child might typically ask -- "How do we know Jesus was really God?" "Why did they hang people on crosses, Dad?" "But if Jesus had a solid body and wasn't a ghost, how did he get through the walls?" Maier's format works well in this setting. Quotations from Luke tell the story, but the discussion between Christopher and his Dad explain the Easter story in a way that seems natural and easy to understand.While the text of this book is quite good, what makes this book a excellent addition to the Easter collection is the outstanding artwork of Francisco Ordaz. Beautiful, full page pictures take up the right hand side of each spread. These realistic and detailed illustrations do a superb job of furthering the viewer's understanding of the Easter story. Especially well done is a portrayal of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane and an illustration showing the women standing in amazement before the empty tomb. The Very First Easter is an wonderful book to share with a child, or anyone, who wonders what more there is to Easter than bunnies and painted eggs.

An absolutely spectacular book. The illustrations were just beautiful and the story is a lovely kid-friendly way to explain the sacrifice made by Christ. ...I have no problem with "devotions", you can easily translate this to whatever word you use in your household whether it be prayer, study, meditation on God's word, etc. I think it's used as an all purpose term for reflection on God's word, easily translated to whatever the individual family uses in the home. It's terribly sad someone would call the use of such thing dissappointing. This is really a time when Christians need to come together and not be divided over our different doctrines and wording.

This re-telling of the biblical story of Easter gives a kid-friendly explanation of Christ's death and resurrection for today's child. What truly makes this book captivating, though, is the outstanding and gorgeous artwork. The only thing I found disappointing is the inclusion of a "Christian-ese" term which will be confusing to children not from specifically evangelical families (at one point in the story the main character, a young boy, and his family sit down for "daily devotions" -- a term and concept which is not commonly used and/or practiced in all Christian households). Despite that minor disappointment, I strongly recommend this book for *anyone* who wants to explain the spiritual aspects of Easter to children.