Easter Morning, Easter Sun

by Rosanna Battigelli, Tara Anderson (Illustrator)

Overview

Easter morning, Easter sun,
Easter breakfast, Easter bun.

What would Easter be without family traditions like hot cross buns for breakfast, a gleeful egg hunt, and a special dinner with loved ones? In infectious rhyme, a family of cats celebrates the holiday with feline fun. The festive bonnets are out, the meadow is alive with spring, and even a tumble and an emptied basket can’t dampen the joy this family of charming cats share.

From the creators of Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round, this buoyant picture book is perfect for read-alouds and lap sharing. An egg-decorating activity on the endpapers will add extra fun for little hands. With Rosanna Battigelli’s bouncing rhyme and Tara Anderson’s cozy art, Easter Morning, Easter Sun is sure to become a tradition of its very own.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781772782332
Publisher:	Pajama Press Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2022
Pages:	24
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 7.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	2 - 4 Years

About the Author

Rosanna Battigelli was born in Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, where she still resides. She is a former award-winning teacher and an alumna of the Humber School for Writers. Her work has been published in seventeen anthologies and she has read at conferences and literary festivals in Sudbury, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, New York City, and in Italy. Rosanna has received international awards and acclaim across several genres. Her first picture book was the adorably festive Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round.

A folk artist and award-winning illustrator who trained at the Ontario College of Art and Design, Tara Anderson is known for her lively and humorous illustrations of animals. Her picture books include Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round; That Stripy Cat; Rhino Rumpus; and the award-winning Nat the Cat Can Sleep Like That. Tara shares a farmhouse in Tweed, Ontario with her husband, her young daughter, and several cats.

Editorial Reviews

02/08/2021

The creators of Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round reunite for this easy-to-read secular celebration of Easter, which features a community of multicolored cats. Battigelli uses two-word lines to compose paired rhyming couplets, following the felines throughout their day of Easter traditions. After a breakfast of hot cross buns, the cats dress in “Easter bonnet,/ Easter hats.” The group goes on to enjoy an egg hunt with mouse friends, a visit from the Easter bunny, and an Easter picnic feast. A mellow color palette and expressive characters mark Anderson’s approachable art, done in oil-based colored pencil and mineral spirits, rounding out this simple seasonal offering. Back matter includes instructions for Easter egg dyeing. Ages 3–6. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Easter Morning, Easter Sun

“The lovely illustrations awash in sweet pastels are reminiscent of dyed eggs….Purchase for large collections and include in Easter or spring holidays programming/displays.”—School Library Journal

“Anderson tucks careful, child-friendly details into the simple compositions…This Easter story focuses on things like springtime renewal as opposed to delving into the religious background of the holiday….A simple, secular Easter story best suited for younger readers.”—Kirkus Reviews

“The creators of Pumpkin Orange, Pumpkin Round reunite for this easy-to-read secular celebration of Easter…A mellow color palette and expressive characters mark Anderson’s approachable art…”—Publishers Weekly

“All the wonderful things about springtime are included in this story…This book is perfect for children between the ages of three and five, especially if their family is preparing for the Easter celebration.”—Youth Services Book Review

“For those who celebrate Easter, Rosanna Battigelli and Tara Anderson will give life to your celebrations of hot cross buns, Easter egg hunts and family feasts. For those who don’t, Easter Morning, Easter Sun shares springtime festivities that herald a new season of colours, freshness and connection of family and friends.”—CanLit for LittleCanadians

“This board book has a great rhythm with the simple phrases and rhymes. Repetitive words will work well for the youngest of readers. The images tell the story of a family enjoying their Easter together. The colors are soft and work well for a book about spring.”—YA Books Central

From the Publisher

03/01/2021

PreS-Gr 1—Battigelli and Anderson celebrate Easter traditions while providing insight and help for little ones running into the common mishaps that come along with the holiday. With friends, a spilled Easter basket and difficulties in finding treats are easily resolved. The lovely illustrations awash in sweet pastels are reminiscent of dyed eggs. The end papers outline the steps for dyeing eggs (with adult help, of course). Rhyming text paired with jewel-tone images will encourage children to read and rhyme along using picture clues. The truly courageous can pair this with an egg-coloring project. VERDICT Purchase for large collections and include in Easter or spring holidays programming/displays.—Heather Maneiro, Glenn Elem. Sch., Durham, NC

School Library Journal

2021-01-13
A rhyming story about a cat family’s Easter activities.

It’s Easter morning, and the members of what appears to be a family of differently colored cats gaze hungrily at a tray of what readers may recognize as hot-cross buns. This opening spread, like every other, includes four lines of rhyming text, each line starting with the word Easter: “Easter morning, / Easter sun, / Easter breakfast, / Easter bun.” All of the words used are associated with either the Easter holiday and/or the springtime season. Though the colored-pencil art is not particularly sophisticated, it is colorful, and the many anthropomorphic cat characters are easily differentiated. Anderson tucks careful, child-friendly details into the simple compositions, rendering flora and fauna with greater realism than the bipedal, clothed felines. The fact that one of the assumed parent cats is a black cat is a nice change from the usual stereotypes around black cats. That the many mice (at least one of whom lives in the cats’ house) in the story live in harmony with—and even help—the cats is both entertaining and sweet. This Easter story focuses on things like springtime renewal as opposed to delving into the religious background of the holiday. Instructions for preparing decorated eggs close the book.

A simple, secular Easter story best suited for younger readers. (Picture book. 2-4)

Kirkus Reviews