Grug and his first Easter by Ted Prior

Simon and Schuster, 2016. ISBN 9781925368246
(Ages: 4 - 6) Easter. This is not a traditional Easter story, but it isn't one just about Easter eggs either. It is somewhere in the middle, but with quirkiness unique to the Grug series. However, there are some strange elements. Cara the snake's first line is 'Soon be Easter, you might get an Easter egg'. This ungrammatical sentence structure (is it because she is a ssssnake?) does not fit with the rest of the story. In addition, when Grug asks Cara about Easter, she explains that 'Easter is the time someone special went away forever' and that people give eggs to celebrate being born again. While the book avoids involving itself too deeply in the religious traditions of Easter, it is inevitable that young children are going to ask 'Who went away?' The story itself sees an Easter bilby leave a small basket of eggs beside Grug's bed, most of which he thoughtfully hides in the forest for his bush friends to find, providing a nice message about giving rather than receiving. He also creates a collage out of the egg wrapping paper, which might give children inspiration for similar creative pursuits. It becomes a little strange again at the end as he dreams about being born again and having long legs and big ears; but when he wakes he is just the same. This is a bit of a hodgepodge of a story that tries to include multiple aspects of Easter, but it might leave children asking more questions than you care to, or know how to, answer.
Nicole Nelson