Holy Week and Easter Book List

For each liturgical season and holiday I love to gather picture books to read with my kids. My poor librarians never get a break. Here is the pile I've collected for Holy Week and Easter, although more are on the way!

After our nightly prayer time during Advent the kids unwrap an Advent/Christmas book for their bedtime story. Even although they don't get to keep the book, as it is from the library, there is something about unwrapping it that makes the story more special. I decided last year to start wrapping up Lent and Easter books as well for after our nightly Lenten prayer time.

The purple books are for Holy Week and the gold books are for the Easter Octave.

Here is the list of books we are using for this year!

Palm Sunday - The Donkey that No One Could Ride

Holy Monday - Easter in the Garden

Holy Tuesday - Petook

Holy Wednesday -  The Story of the Easter Robin

Holy Thursday - Through the Eyes of John

Good Friday - The Three Trees

Holy Saturday -  Easter Eggs for Anya

Easter Sunday - The Easter Story

Easter Monday - Happy Easter Day

Easter Tuesday - Chicken Sunday

Easter Wednesday - Rechenka's Eggs

Easter Thursday - The Easter Cave

Easter Friday - The Story of Easter

Easter Saturday - The Birds' Gift

Divine Mercy Sunday - The Parable of the Lily

What are your favorite Lent or Easter books?

Check out these posts for more of my liturgical ideas!
Ideas for Lent
Ideas for Holy Week
Ideas for Easter Season

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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Thanksgiving Booklist

With Thanksgiving just around the corner I've been compiling a booklist of some of our favorite Thanksgiving books for future years. I have a few more books on hold that I might be adding, but here is what we have so far!

An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving by Louisa My Alcott*
Thanksgiving: A Harvest Celebration by Julie Stiegemeyer*
Thank You for Thanksgiving by Dandi Daley Mackall*
Over the River and Through the Wood by L. Maria Child
The Thanksgiving Story by Alice Dalgliesh*
This is the Turkey by Abby Levine
Thanksgiving Graces by Mark Kimball Moulton*
Thanksgiving is... by Gail Gibbons
Thanksgiving at Our House by Wendy Watson
Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving by Eric Metaxas*
T is for Turkey by Tanya Lee Stone
Thanksgiving Mice! by Bethany Roberts
Thanksgiving: What Makes it Special? by Harold Myra* (This book has a part stating that calling Thanksgiving "Turkey Day" is bad because it takes away from the thankful part. I don't know if I'd call it bad. Just a heads up if your thinking about this book! The rest of the book is great!)
Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende Devlin
P is for Pilgrim: A Thanksgiving Alphabet by Carol Crane
Pilgrim Cat by Carol Antoinette Peacock*
N.C.Wyeth's Pilgrims by Robert San Souci
The First Thanksgiving by Jean Craighead George
The Pilgrims of Plimoth by Marcia Sewall

What are your favorite Thanksgiving books?

*Books with an asterisk have a Christian theme.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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Not Scary Halloween Booklist

Each year in October we are that weird family. That weird family who doesn't decorate our home with witches, ghosts, and goblins (even the happy, friendly ones). That weird family who avoids the seasonal section of Wal-get and the grocery store. That weird family who is concerned about that fact that costumes seems to be either based on evil (even in the disguise of misunderstood monsters) or sex saturated (apparently even waitresses, nurses, and nuns can be sexy). That weird family who can't just throw on a store bought costume because their kids dress up as saints for Halloween AND All Saints'. That weird family who tries to finds ways to make the purpose of Halloween, or All Hallows Eve, to be the vigil of the Solemnity of All Saints'.

So, in an effort to find some Halloween/fall-ish books that I can actually read to my kids I've been working my local librarians extra hard these days by putting dozens of books on hold in search of a few that cover Halloween without an evil/scary tone. Here's my list so far, I'll keep adding to it as I find more!

I'm Bernadette By: Emily Ortega (This story is about a girl trying to decide which Saint to be for the All Saints' Day parade and is written by a former FOCUS missionary. I haven't read it, as it is currently on pre-sale, but I can't wait to get my hands on a copy!)
The Pumpkin Patch Parable By: Liz Curtis Higgs
Pumpkin Pumpkin By: Jeanne Titherington
It's Pumpkin Time! By: Zoe Hall*
Leaf Man By: Lois Ehlert
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever By: Steven Kroll*
Grandma's Smile By: Elaine Moore
The Very Best Pumpkin By: Mark Kimball Moulton (We loved this one!)
How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin? By: Margaret McNamara
Too Many Pumpkins By: Linda White*
Plumply, Dumply Pumpkin By: Mary Serfozo
Pumpkin Moonshine By: Tasha Tudor

*Books with an asterisk have a mild reference to secular Halloween, such as a picture of a child dressed up as a ghost on their way to trick or treat.

Are there any books you've found that would fit on this list? If so, please add them to the comments so I can check them out!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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