Easter Baskets Filled With Reading Fun

Natasha Wing's The Night Before Easter will be a delight for your child to find in their Easter basket this year. It is the perfect size for those baskets and is a great choice for filling a basket with fun reading along with candy. Parents are always looking for something to replace all of that Easter candy and small books meet that need.

The Night Before Easter is written in a form similar to another holiday favorite for the Christmas holidays. Young children will quickly recognize the similarity to The Night Before Christmas. The Easter bunny replaces Santa and a wheelbarrow full of Easter eggs and goodies replace the sleigh. The text is written in similar rhymes. Visions of jelly beans replace the sugarplums. The Easter bunny's antics with yard tools will have young children laughing. A berry replaces Santa's cherry on the Easter bunny's nose. The Easter bunny goes about the task of hiding beautiful eggs for the egg hunt. Finally, all is done and the early morning rooster crows, letting the Easter Bunny know that it is time to disappear until next year.

Kathy Cour contributes her talent as an illustrator with her delightful art work for The Night Before Easter. This fun holiday story was published by Grosset & Dunlap, a division of Penguin Random House. It is recommended for ages 3-7 and has an ISBN of 978-1-5247-9285-5.

Happy Easter to all!

Peter Rabbit has been a favorite character through the years. Easter is the perfect time to introduce your little one to this beloved character. This small board book is sturdy enough for infants and toddlers, and another perfect choice that will fit into the Easter basket this year.

Count with Peter Rabbit in this fun read aloud Peter Rabbit 1 2 3 A Counting Book. Counting and recognition of numbers can be introduced very early in an infant and toddler's development. Each page has the appropriate number of a little character for each page and the numbers 1-10 are introduced. The counting begins with 1 Easter Bunny. 2 mice, three kittens, 4 more bunnies, 5 butterflies, six squirrels, 7 chickens, 8 bees bothering Mrs. Tittlemouse, 9 baby ducks, and 10 birds complete the counting. The illustrations are presented in pastel colors for the Easter season.

The board book form for this counting book is easy to hold as you read along and count with your infant/toddler. You will want to point to each number as you read along in order to emphasize the recognition of the number. Counting the characters by pointing to each one as you count also emphasizes the counting process. Toddlers will readily respond to this counting process.

123 A Counting Book With Peter Rabbit was published by Frederick Warne, a division of Penguin/Random House. It is recommended for infants and toddlers up to age 3. It has an ISBN of 978-0-241-35477-3.

Early childhood teachers who teach in infant/toddler classrooms will want to add these two special books to your shelf. Both are small and toddlers always enjoy having a small book to carry around or sit and "read" by themselves. Holiday books are fun additions to your infant/toddler classrooms.