Reviews: The Easter Swallows and Jesus Feeds Everybody

I recently received a couple of new books from Pauline Books and Media and Ramona was taken with both of them. The Easter Swallows, by Vicki Howie, is a lovely book that tells the story of the Crucifixion and the Resurrection from the point of view of two swallows, Long-tail and Short-tail. Though it gets right to the point:

"What are they going to do to Jesus?" she whispered.

"I'm afraid they are going to kill Him," said Long-tail.

That dreadful Friday, the soldiers put Jesus on a cross between two other crosses. They left Him there to die.

it was still gentle enough (and of course includes the joy of the Resurrection) for Ramona. I loved the soft, watercolor illustrations by Paola Bertolini Grudina.

At the end of the story, I was ready to hunt down more books by this illustrator, and Ramona happily proclaimed, "He is Rosen!"




Jesus Feeds Everybody! by Young-Jin Choi and Jung-Cho Kim, is an English translation of a board book originally published in Korea. The multiplication of the loaves and fishes came to life for Ramona. She loved this brightly illustrated book and I think she especially loved that it comes with a built-in ribbon handle for convenient toting.

A very happy Jesus, cute bunnies and lambs and its own handle ... Ramona was pleased.