Easter Books

This book will be most interesting to those who consider themselves as "metaphysical Christians", or into "New Thought" such as Unity and Religious Science. Fundamentalist Christians will probably find a whole lot to disagree with.

Many who are into "New Thought" are inclined to stay away from Bible studies, but I feel there is so much to learn and understand when one has a full grasp of what the Bible actually says. This book is a 47 day study, best started on Ash Wednesday and ending Easter Sunday.

Wilson, who was founding pastor of the Christ, Unity church in Los Angeles, draws on all four of the gospels along with an immense knowledge and understanding of Biblical times and lands. The 47 chapters take us from Palm Sunday through Easter Sunday, day by day, a little at a time. Each chapter begins with the Biblical account, followed by the author's discussion on the significance to each of us that the words hold. The chapter ends with a short devotion appropriate to the study. There is a day by day study guide in the back of the book which gives the Biblical source for the lesson, questions for discussion, and a short prayer.

I've gone through this study twice, and have found that it keeps me in tune with the true meaning of this season.

Everyone with any child inside of them should have this book.

I found a used copy of this book and fell in love with it. The illustrations by Adrienne Adams are half of what makes this book so incredibly precious. It's one of those little storybooks that you will probably want to keep and pass on as an heirloom.

The story begins with the Easter Bunny sound asleep in his warm burrow "dreaming of Easter and the brightly painted eggs that he was going to bring all the children." But Easter comes, it's raining a lot, and bunny sleeps until May, when he wakes up thinking it's Easter, puts on his Easter clothes and hops off with his Easter basket through the woods (adorable pictures) to a house with a family eating chocolates, but he finds out it's Mother's Day, and everywhere he goes to deliver his eggs, people tell him it's too late for Easter and scold him for being so late to bring their eggs.

The Easter Bunny goes back to his burrow and decides to be a 4th of July Bunny and paint his eggs red, white, and blue, and put on a patriotic outfit and then goes out to join a 4th of July parade when it rolls around, but the parade gets stopped by an officer who tells the bunny crossly that July 4th is "no time for eggs!", and nobody is interested in the bunny's red white and blue eggs.

The Easter Bunny goes back to his burrow and fell asleep again for a long time until he got woken up on Halloween by some trick or treaters. The Easter Bunny tries to give his guests some July 4th eggs and then explains that they are really Easter eggs, but realizes that nobody wants his eggs on Halloween.

Suddenly, a big wind picks up and blows the Easter Bunny to Santa's house and Santa invites him inside and Santa hears Bunny's long story about his oversleeping and the consequences. Then Bunny helps get the toys painted for Santa, and they go off in the sleigh to deliver the toys together. When they get back to Santa's after delivering all the toys, Bunny is tired and is ready to go back to his burrow and snooze, but before he leaves, Santa give Easter Bunny a present.... The rest of this adorable little story has a very happy ending for everyone.

This book is a little treasure that you will want to keep. The illustrations are so, so adorable.

I am very happy with this Easter book. While many childrens' Easter books focus on bunnies and candy, this one very simply explains the true meaning of Easter and Jesus' rising. It was easy for my two year old to follow. The pictures were also appropriately detailed for my two year old.

My son loves this book. It got him really entranced thinking it was a dragon egg. He loves dinosaurs and dragons.

This book is a delight, one we don't mind reading over and over and over. Follow the bunny on an charming adventure in black and white. The story is simple enough for the youngest readers and the book is the perfect size for little laps and hands. One of my all-time favorites.

I'm always looking for new holiday books to share with my readers of "Church and Synagogue Libraries". I love this fun, comic strip film or video animated like book for preschool and primary age because it portrays the story of the first Easter in a way that youngest readers and listeners can enjoy a story on their leval of understanding. I picture little ones in a storytime or lying on their stomachs in a library (or at home)wide-eyed reading or listening to the story. I heartily recommended it to my readers and to all looking for a good Easter storybook for young children. I can't wait to share it with my granddaughters at Eastertime or before. Charles Snyder, Book review Editor, Church and Synagogue Libraries

Excellent attempt to categorise the participants of the War of Independence and the Civil War. O'Farrell has a no nonsense approach and his book is invaluable to the Irish Historian. Recommended to those with any interest in the Rising of 1916 or the Civil War.Also usefull as a guide while reading other books from the period.

Phyllis Tickle uses stories of her own family to illustrate the liturgical calendar. A wonderful education for those of us raised in churches that don't celebrate the liturgical calendar.
Stories are full of wisdom. I quote the lost security blanket with Rebecca's dreams in it and the mourning for a lost child that never goes away, just becomes less arrogant.

THE PASSION: PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE MOVIE is a nice souvenir book, but now that the DVD is available, you don't really need this book.

When THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST was still in theaters in its original run, I bought several copies of this book, to give to family members. At that time it was very helpful and people were very curious to look through the book, due to all of the news and publicity, whether or not they had seen the film.

Since then, now that THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST has been out on DVD, this book is more for the biggest fans of the film only, since you might as well watch the DVD, instead of look at most of these photos.

Most of the photos do NOT seem to show too much that isn't already in the film. Most of the pages have one small color photo and very minimal text, usually Bible verse quotes. Most photos could use further explanation if someone was not familiar with the Bible story, or had not yet seen the film. There is a VERY SHORT section of SMALL b/w photos at the end of the book that show some production shots that you won't see in the film. Most of the color photos throughout the book look pretty much like what you see onscreen during the movie.

It's a very nice book, but it was a lot more unique BEFORE the DVD came out.

Instead of this book, I would recommend that you first buy the DVD version of the film, especially THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST: DEFINITIVE EDITION, which has both the original full length film and the RECUT version from a year later (5 minutes shorter). (Don't be confused by its poor DVD back cover description which only mentions the RECUT version! The DEFINITIVE EDITION has BOTH versions!) The DEFINITIVE EDITION also has about 140 minutes of Making Of, documentary footage, and 3 different commentary tracks (2 with Mel Gibson), so THE DEFINITIVE EDITION on DVD is the way to go, for about the same price as this book!

OK. If you're going to create a pictorial accompaniment to a controversial movie, AT LEAST PUT IN THE BEST PICTURES!!!

"The Passion of the Christ" intersperses stills from the movie with snippets from the passion section of the gospels. But whatever its value as a devotional or meditative aid, it is missing nearly all of the over-the-top images from the movie. There's no snake in Gethsemane; no clear image of Satan; no Jesus hanging off the bridge; no demon children hounding Judas; none of the nastiest scourging scenes; no long stairway to ascend with the cross; no shroud image on Veronica's cloth; no flipping Jesus on his face; no shoulder dislocation; no eye-piercing crow.

Virtually none of the images that stayed with me from the movie are included. I wonder why not? Were these scenes too gruesome when transferred to the printed page? Or were they rendered silly when they could be studied at leisure? I can't figure out Mel Gibson for adding these gruesome scenes to the film. I understand less why he left them out of the book. Weird.

Mel Gibson's pornographic depiction of violence, blood, and torn flesh is not for me. It's disgusting and disturbed. There are more respectable and watchable movies made about Jesus and the Bible. The Passion is sheer torture from a gore-obsessed mind.

This book captures some of the breathtaking images from the movie "The Passion." Combined with relevant scriptures, both from the gospel and Old Testament prophecies of Christ, the images allow one to really meditate on the suffering of Christ, each step of the way.

The pictures follow his ordeal that began in the garden, as he prays to the Father. Each step is captured in a stunning picture or two. That ends with his death on the cross and then a visual image indicating his resurrection. This is akin to a visual tool to follow the stations of the cross and allow their significance to sink in. In that way, this book becomes interactive as a prayer and devotional tool.

There are also some pictures of the filming of the movie that provide a glimpse of Mel Gibson and the actors setting the stage for the movie.

I think this book is a must-have for anyone who appreciated the movie The Passion or for anyone who is a Christian but was not willing to endure watching the suffering of Christ in the movie. Although I strongly recommend the movie and the book, the book offers a more bearable way to see what he endured and to appreciate his sacrifice for those who avoided the movie.

Wonderfully done, like the movie! The pictures are just as touching as the film. The book touches on the most important scenes, the relationship between Jesus and Mary and the suffering He went through in the end. It doesn't fail to point out that Jesus rose from the dead also. This book clearly communicates the purpose of Jesus dying for us and that He is God. It has brought me closer to the Lord and I'm sure has had the same effect on other people. It's also a great way to introduce Mel Gibson's film to friends.

I had high hopes for Trinity, Leon Uris would tell the story of the Irish Rebellion with the style and excitement he showed in Exodus. The book started well, Michener has shown me how valuable 200 pages of background and story development can be in a historical novel. I was however at first surprised and then dismayed when the book developed the story line of an afternoon soap opera, the characters become caricatures and the story line ends up melodramatic and contrived. I wanted to understand the history of the Irish, Catholic Church, Scotch Irish, and English; and I get a set of late 20th century values, morphed into this late 19th, early 20th century story. As always, Uris's writing is clear and stylish, but the story he tells is far below expectations.
This is Tripe, not Trinity.

I love to read. My dad would see me reading and say how it's one of the best things you can do in, life, the more you red the smarter you get. I'd always go for Stephen King, Jeffery Deaver, John Sanford... and such. My father would tell me that if I wanted to read a good book I should read 'Trinity', and learn about my ancestors. My father is half Irish. His grandparents came over during the potato famine. It's a great book if you want to learn how hard it was for your ancestors, when they had to leave their home and come to America. I finally got this 'Epic Novel' and I gotta say I love it. It was very moving. Every page drew me lin closer and closer. It's not the type of book I normaly read, but I am so glad I read it. The young boy that you meet at the beginging, you really start to see things through his eyes. I loved "seeing" how things were in that time period, the customs and hardships.
In all, if you like learning about history, and/or you have any type of Irish blood in you, you have to read this book. Learn more about how things were for your Grandparents or Great-Gransparents and so on.

Inspired by Trinity, I finally visited Northern Ireland -- recommended. Then I reread it, and of course it made much more sense. I learned so much, and it's such a shame about the writing. Examples: 1) Going overboard on the exclamation points! Like he needs them to get across to the reader that a fire in a sweatshop is a bad thing! Ditto for a squadron of freedom fighters getting blasted inside a cave! 2) He's got non-sectarian flopping of arms all over the place. I still can't conjure up an image of one flopping one's arms. 3) The dream sequence in Blackpool...cheap. I could go on and on. I'd kill to get my hands on the manuscript and edit it for a new edition. I could turn this from a good story into a fine piece of writing.

Yes, this story is a wee bit over-the-top, but what a yarn! For those Americans of Irsh descent, notice we do not say the hyphenated Irish-American, for part of being Irish is being an uber-patriot, and America is now our first love, with our homeland only a distant memory, which is what causes us to devour this book, to be inspired by it and more understanding of our heritage. This is the only book I have read three times, each time about ten years apart, and God willing will read another three times. With each passing understaning "us Irish" a bit better. Erin go brough and America forever!

This great novel captures the deep feeling of a heroic and sorrow-filled life.

I have met men my entire life who claim this is by far their favorite book. And I know many men who named their first-born son Conor, because of the boy and man depicted in this book.

It's heartbreaking and uplifting at the same time.

Uris was a man possessed when he wrote this.

Read this book.


("Gates of Fire" by Steven Pressfield has written a book with similar eternal themes, and one that I have seen have the same effect on many men who have read it.)