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The Story of the Easter Bunny: An Easter And Springtime Book For Kids
On a snow-cold day in a snug little house . . .
Everyone knows that the Easter Bunny comes every year with a basket of painted eggs and chocolates. But who is the Easter Bunny, and what is his story? At last, the famous bunny's secrets are revealed in this delightful tale perfect for springtime!a
32 pages, Board Book
First published January 1, 2005
21 people are currently reading
180 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
April 17, 2022
HAPPY EASTER!!
2017: i found this book more alarming than expected, and soon i will write a review telling all.
and of course by “soon,” i mean “in a year.” happy easter 2018!
so here we go - i am finally ready to reveal the true story of the easter bunny, which this book tries to pass off as sweet and folksy, but there’s something shady down in the subtext that i’m here to unpack and illuminate for you.
there will be both “spoilers,” in which i will discuss the contents of this 29-page picture book in great detail, and also spoilers in which i will ruin your childhood. for your own good.
it all begins with “a round old couple” and their pet rabbit. and this couple spends ALL YEAR preparing for easter. they are easter FANATICS. keep in mind that this is the easter bunny’s origin story, so at this point, presumably, easter as a greeting-card and egg-and-candy show is not a thing - the holiday is strictly an observance of christ’s resurrection. the book is not particularly religious - there’s a little thomas kinkade-village steeple poking over the snug little cottages in the background, and church bells toll, but jesus is what easter is all about under its candy shell, so if you approach this story as an alien visitor would, with no context beyond what’s on the page, it’s about two people who - for some reason -spend every waking moment of their lives dyeing eggs, weaving baskets, and making egg-shaped chocolates to distribute to the children of the village while they’re already celebrating a man’s return from the dead. are they a couple of jolly pagans? are they going insane? is this also the origin story of march madness?
fun fact: basket weaving was a popular form of occupational therapy for mental health patients. fun fact 2: The Walking Dead airs on sunday nights and is also about people coming back from the dead.
so, the couple does their thing, sequestered all the cold winter long with their pet rabbit, who is always watching. always. watching. year after year, waaaaaatching. i don’t want to belabor the point, but when nearly every page mentions this rabbit watching their every move, it bears repeating in the analysis.
and every easter morning, the round old couple go out into their village and distribute the fruits of their labor.
The round old couple brought every child
a straw basket filled with Easter eggs,
as they did every year.
And their little rabbit watched.
it’s a nice social event for them - gets them out of the house after spending all those months cooped up being scrutinized by a bunny rabbit, all dizzy on paint fumes and scorched chocolate. and it probably feels good to make children happy - a fitting reward for all their work.
one year, after preparing most of the easter schwag, the couple sleeps in, and the ever-watchful, younger, more energetic, and apparently very calculating rabbit, gathers up the eggs the couple has colored and the chocolates they have made, molded, and wrapped, and puts everything in the baskets they have woven and then he goes off and delivers them all by himself without even attempting to wake the humans, thereby taking all the credit, while making a big show of delivering them “secretly.” which is about as disingenuous as santa pretending to be dismayed when he’s discovered by little boys and girls awakened after he lands a dozen stompy ungulates with festive bells all over them on the frickin’ roof.
The little rabbit scooped up the baskets
and hopped down the lane.
He left one for every child in the village.
He didn’t think anyone saw him.
rabbit, everyone sees you - you are making a spectacle of yourself!
by the following year, the rabbit has taken over this mom and pop operation entirely, overseeing most of the tasks himself, while upping production, and turning an eccentric couple’s gentle, albeit obsessive, hobby into a straight-up sweatshop.
look at these faces - are these the faces of carefree merrymakers or of bunny-whipped prisoners?
once again, he takes charge of the delivery, takes all the credit, and has evidently branded himself in a way the couple never had:
The little rabbit hopped all over the countryside.
And the children knew, The Easter Bunny came!
meanwhile, the couple is nowhere to be seen.
soon, the couple become too frail to even exploit anymore, and the rabbit just bounces, doing the old "see ya, suckers!” wave, blithely leaving two elderly people to fend for themselves after stealing their legacy.
and he starts up a new sweatshop for rabbits
which is as misleadingly framed as his human workhouse was: The little rabbit’s friends came to help him. O RLY, rabbit? is it a coincidence that all your “helpful friends”are brown bunnies? hmmm??
this is not a bunny i trust. his abandonment of the couple is poorly justified:
One year the round old couple could not help
the little rabbit anymore.
They were so very, very old.
And the rabbit knew he could not stay
in their snug little house anymore.
Too many children were discovering his secrets.
that last sentence seems tacked on, like a pencil-scrawled forgery on a rich man’s will. fact is, the rabbit left them because they were too old to help. he drained them dry like bunnicula drains a carrot, and tried to pass off his cutting them loose as, “noooo, too many children know about me!”
but that makes no sense. this is the story of how the easter bunny came to be, so isn’t he supposed to be known?
children aren’t supposed to catch him in the act of basket-distribution, sure, but historically, he’s always taken the credit for the candy and the crinkle-grass and even the marshmallow peeps that NO ONE should want to take credit for. so his betrayal of this sweet daft couple can’t be because the kids know he exists - i think the “secrets” referred to in that last line are about his elder abuse scandal; taking a sweet, addled couple hostage and running a labor mill that only profits himself.
whatever the reason, he leaves and the couple who loved and sheltered him all those years are never mentioned again, and probably do not live very long afterwards - neglect and complications from chocolate-egg-diabeetus. if they’re lucky, someone in the thomas kinkade village will find them come spring, if the predators have left enough of them to produce a noticeable odor.
still think the easter bunny is a hero, selflessly delivering jelly beans out of the goodness of his heart? consider this small, but important, detail: throughout the story, the couple’s baskets are referred to neutrally, as “the” baskets. but towards the end, there’s a shift, and “the little rabbit found the perfect place to make his baskets,” and “the Easter Bunny delivers his baskets.” emphases mine. he moved into a quaint village, exploited their customs, religion, their way of life, stripped them for parts and put his name all over their intellectual property, turning their small kind gestures into a commercial juggernaut. and no one made a peep.
HAPPY EASTER!
tl;dr - the origin of the easter bunny: grasping ungrateful rabbit takes advantage of soft round old couple, becomes famous.
***********************************************
my dad gave this book to me for easter. not some long-ago, distant easter when i was a little kid, he sent it to me THIS easter, even though i am grown, along with tons of candy and other wonderful treats. this makes my daddy the best ever.
i found this book more alarming than expected, and soon i will write a review telling all. for now, i will eat candy and wish my daddy lived closer.
come to my blog!
2017: i found this book more alarming than expected, and soon i will write a review telling all.
and of course by “soon,” i mean “in a year.” happy easter 2018!
so here we go - i am finally ready to reveal the true story of the easter bunny, which this book tries to pass off as sweet and folksy, but there’s something shady down in the subtext that i’m here to unpack and illuminate for you.
there will be both “spoilers,” in which i will discuss the contents of this 29-page picture book in great detail, and also spoilers in which i will ruin your childhood. for your own good.
it all begins with “a round old couple” and their pet rabbit. and this couple spends ALL YEAR preparing for easter. they are easter FANATICS. keep in mind that this is the easter bunny’s origin story, so at this point, presumably, easter as a greeting-card and egg-and-candy show is not a thing - the holiday is strictly an observance of christ’s resurrection. the book is not particularly religious - there’s a little thomas kinkade-village steeple poking over the snug little cottages in the background, and church bells toll, but jesus is what easter is all about under its candy shell, so if you approach this story as an alien visitor would, with no context beyond what’s on the page, it’s about two people who - for some reason -spend every waking moment of their lives dyeing eggs, weaving baskets, and making egg-shaped chocolates to distribute to the children of the village while they’re already celebrating a man’s return from the dead. are they a couple of jolly pagans? are they going insane? is this also the origin story of march madness?
fun fact: basket weaving was a popular form of occupational therapy for mental health patients. fun fact 2: The Walking Dead airs on sunday nights and is also about people coming back from the dead.
so, the couple does their thing, sequestered all the cold winter long with their pet rabbit, who is always watching. always. watching. year after year, waaaaaatching. i don’t want to belabor the point, but when nearly every page mentions this rabbit watching their every move, it bears repeating in the analysis.
and every easter morning, the round old couple go out into their village and distribute the fruits of their labor.
The round old couple brought every child
a straw basket filled with Easter eggs,
as they did every year.
And their little rabbit watched.
it’s a nice social event for them - gets them out of the house after spending all those months cooped up being scrutinized by a bunny rabbit, all dizzy on paint fumes and scorched chocolate. and it probably feels good to make children happy - a fitting reward for all their work.
one year, after preparing most of the easter schwag, the couple sleeps in, and the ever-watchful, younger, more energetic, and apparently very calculating rabbit, gathers up the eggs the couple has colored and the chocolates they have made, molded, and wrapped, and puts everything in the baskets they have woven and then he goes off and delivers them all by himself without even attempting to wake the humans, thereby taking all the credit, while making a big show of delivering them “secretly.” which is about as disingenuous as santa pretending to be dismayed when he’s discovered by little boys and girls awakened after he lands a dozen stompy ungulates with festive bells all over them on the frickin’ roof.
The little rabbit scooped up the baskets
and hopped down the lane.
He left one for every child in the village.
He didn’t think anyone saw him.
rabbit, everyone sees you - you are making a spectacle of yourself!
by the following year, the rabbit has taken over this mom and pop operation entirely, overseeing most of the tasks himself, while upping production, and turning an eccentric couple’s gentle, albeit obsessive, hobby into a straight-up sweatshop.
look at these faces - are these the faces of carefree merrymakers or of bunny-whipped prisoners?
once again, he takes charge of the delivery, takes all the credit, and has evidently branded himself in a way the couple never had:
The little rabbit hopped all over the countryside.
And the children knew, The Easter Bunny came!
meanwhile, the couple is nowhere to be seen.
soon, the couple become too frail to even exploit anymore, and the rabbit just bounces, doing the old "see ya, suckers!” wave, blithely leaving two elderly people to fend for themselves after stealing their legacy.
and he starts up a new sweatshop for rabbits
which is as misleadingly framed as his human workhouse was: The little rabbit’s friends came to help him. O RLY, rabbit? is it a coincidence that all your “helpful friends”are brown bunnies? hmmm??
this is not a bunny i trust. his abandonment of the couple is poorly justified:
One year the round old couple could not help
the little rabbit anymore.
They were so very, very old.
And the rabbit knew he could not stay
in their snug little house anymore.
Too many children were discovering his secrets.
that last sentence seems tacked on, like a pencil-scrawled forgery on a rich man’s will. fact is, the rabbit left them because they were too old to help. he drained them dry like bunnicula drains a carrot, and tried to pass off his cutting them loose as, “noooo, too many children know about me!”
but that makes no sense. this is the story of how the easter bunny came to be, so isn’t he supposed to be known?
children aren’t supposed to catch him in the act of basket-distribution, sure, but historically, he’s always taken the credit for the candy and the crinkle-grass and even the marshmallow peeps that NO ONE should want to take credit for. so his betrayal of this sweet daft couple can’t be because the kids know he exists - i think the “secrets” referred to in that last line are about his elder abuse scandal; taking a sweet, addled couple hostage and running a labor mill that only profits himself.
whatever the reason, he leaves and the couple who loved and sheltered him all those years are never mentioned again, and probably do not live very long afterwards - neglect and complications from chocolate-egg-diabeetus. if they’re lucky, someone in the thomas kinkade village will find them come spring, if the predators have left enough of them to produce a noticeable odor.
still think the easter bunny is a hero, selflessly delivering jelly beans out of the goodness of his heart? consider this small, but important, detail: throughout the story, the couple’s baskets are referred to neutrally, as “the” baskets. but towards the end, there’s a shift, and “the little rabbit found the perfect place to make his baskets,” and “the Easter Bunny delivers his baskets.” emphases mine. he moved into a quaint village, exploited their customs, religion, their way of life, stripped them for parts and put his name all over their intellectual property, turning their small kind gestures into a commercial juggernaut. and no one made a peep.
HAPPY EASTER!
tl;dr - the origin of the easter bunny: grasping ungrateful rabbit takes advantage of soft round old couple, becomes famous.
***********************************************
my dad gave this book to me for easter. not some long-ago, distant easter when i was a little kid, he sent it to me THIS easter, even though i am grown, along with tons of candy and other wonderful treats. this makes my daddy the best ever.
i found this book more alarming than expected, and soon i will write a review telling all. for now, i will eat candy and wish my daddy lived closer.
come to my blog!
March 10, 2016
Now this bunny is a real worker bee!
He lives with a "round" old couple in a snug house, and let me tell you, this couple planned ahead. On a snow-cold day they start their Easter preparations. The bunny watches and as in any family, steps up to the plate when needed.
A Grandson Selection at storyhour
He lives with a "round" old couple in a snug house, and let me tell you, this couple planned ahead. On a snow-cold day they start their Easter preparations. The bunny watches and as in any family, steps up to the plate when needed.
A Grandson Selection at storyhour
October 18, 2017
This book whitewashes and Christianizes the actual stories behind the Pagan symbols used in Easter celebrations. Dishonest and shameful. Wouldn’t it be great to see a beautiful children’s story telling the vast, centuries worth of cultural traditions and rituals and superstitions that merged and morphed and changed into the current celebration that Easter is today? This is the exact opposite, turning Easter’s symbols into a cheap story about a white couple and their pet rabbit.
April 24, 2014
What's not to love about a "round" old couple that decorates and delivers Easter Eggs to the kids in their little village? I fell in love with the illustrations and have decided I wouldn't mind being half of a round old couple...they are precious.
March 29, 2010
Very pretty pictures. Cute little story on how the Easter bunny was started for children. A little long for a small child.
April 7, 2011
A nice story for Easter time, bu† what I really liked were the beautiful illustrations.
Read
February 5, 2017Not sure this needed a board book form. Sometimes a longer length picture book will be edited down for an abridge version in a board book but this wasn't the case.
April 23, 2019
The Story of the Easter Bunny is a children's picture book written by Katherine Tegen and illustrated by Sally Anne Lambert. It is about the story about the origins of the Easter Bunny. As this is the last day of the Easter long weekend, I thought it would be apropos to read this book today.
Tegen's text is simplistic and straightforward. It tells the origins of the Easter Bunny, as his elderly owners were Easter lovers as he helped and then later helped along the way. Lambert's illustrations are wonderfully drawn and depicted the narrative extremely well.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It's about a bunny that lives with its elderly owners as it watches and then later helps them with the creation of Easter Eggs, chocolates, and baskets. Soon, the Easter Bunny would help out more and more and eventually left his elderly owners and recruit other rabbits to help him with the making of Easter Eggs, chocolates, and baskets for it to deliver.
All in all, The Story of the Easter Bunny is a wonderfully children's book about the origins of the Easter Bunny.
Tegen's text is simplistic and straightforward. It tells the origins of the Easter Bunny, as his elderly owners were Easter lovers as he helped and then later helped along the way. Lambert's illustrations are wonderfully drawn and depicted the narrative extremely well.
The premise of the book is rather straightforward. It's about a bunny that lives with its elderly owners as it watches and then later helps them with the creation of Easter Eggs, chocolates, and baskets. Soon, the Easter Bunny would help out more and more and eventually left his elderly owners and recruit other rabbits to help him with the making of Easter Eggs, chocolates, and baskets for it to deliver.
All in all, The Story of the Easter Bunny is a wonderfully children's book about the origins of the Easter Bunny.
May 16, 2017
THE STORY OF THE EASTER BUNNY is a story I've never heard before. It tells about how the Easter Bunny came to be.
It starts out with an elderly couple creating baskets and decorating eggs. Their pet bunny watches them as they work and grows interested. The next year, the bunny joins in to assist them with delivering the eggs and baskets. After a few more years, the elderly couple are too old to continue with decorating the eggs, so the bunny takes over completely. He decorates the eggs, makes the baskets, and delivers them. Thus, the Easter Bunny is created and becomes more and more popular and well-known.
I really enjoyed this read and sharing it with my daughter. It says that it's for ages 4-8, but I feel as if 2 or 3 year olds would enjoy this book too. It'll be something that I'll read to my daughter as Easters come and go.
Final Verdict: This is the perfect book to get into the spirit of Easter and it would also make a great Easter gift, especially if you're wanting to skimp on the candy like I do. It's a interesting take on how the Easter Bunny came to be.
It starts out with an elderly couple creating baskets and decorating eggs. Their pet bunny watches them as they work and grows interested. The next year, the bunny joins in to assist them with delivering the eggs and baskets. After a few more years, the elderly couple are too old to continue with decorating the eggs, so the bunny takes over completely. He decorates the eggs, makes the baskets, and delivers them. Thus, the Easter Bunny is created and becomes more and more popular and well-known.
I really enjoyed this read and sharing it with my daughter. It says that it's for ages 4-8, but I feel as if 2 or 3 year olds would enjoy this book too. It'll be something that I'll read to my daughter as Easters come and go.
Final Verdict: This is the perfect book to get into the spirit of Easter and it would also make a great Easter gift, especially if you're wanting to skimp on the candy like I do. It's a interesting take on how the Easter Bunny came to be.
March 19, 2021
Not the Easter book I’m looking for from my childhood. This sounded like a cute concept, but I thought the story was mediocre. Basically, the plot is that the bunny was the pet of an old couple who dyed eggs, made chocolate in egg shapes, and wove baskets to fill with these things and give to kids in their town. There’s no explanation of why they do this, or why these things. The bunny basically just takes over the tasks. The illustrations are nice, though not anything that would have excited my imagination as a child. This feels a bit like a book a grandparent would buy for their grandchild.
April 14, 2022
3 stars from me.
5 stars from my 4 year old grandson.
He delighted in the story. The bunny is a hard worker like his daddy. He analyzed the illustrations; discussing what the bunny was doing, colors of the eggs, etc. He pointed out too that the bunny looks as if he is struggling in some of the Illustrations. . .I felt sorry for the bunny.
Ok - now I am going to give some things away. . .I was enjoying the story until it took a slightly dark turn about the the elderly couple who kept the rabbit - they slept in one year. They come back later in the story and then a bit later it is revealed that they are very, very old and can no longer help the rabbit. Questions where asked about why they couldn’t help and what that meant. I was caught off guard but recovered and believe I recovered well.
5 stars from my 4 year old grandson.
He delighted in the story. The bunny is a hard worker like his daddy. He analyzed the illustrations; discussing what the bunny was doing, colors of the eggs, etc. He pointed out too that the bunny looks as if he is struggling in some of the Illustrations. . .I felt sorry for the bunny.
Ok - now I am going to give some things away. . .I was enjoying the story until it took a slightly dark turn about the the elderly couple who kept the rabbit - they slept in one year. They come back later in the story and then a bit later it is revealed that they are very, very old and can no longer help the rabbit. Questions where asked about why they couldn’t help and what that meant. I was caught off guard but recovered and believe I recovered well.
April 13, 2019
The Story of The Easter Bunny shows caring, kindness and selflessness with soft, lovely illustrations. I found it quite reminiscent of some tales about Santa Claus who began by giving to the children in his small village.
The Story of The Easter Bunny beautifully illustrates the wonder that children's imaginings should be.
I would absolutely gift this to my grandchildren.
The Story of The Easter Bunny beautifully illustrates the wonder that children's imaginings should be.
I would absolutely gift this to my grandchildren.
April 11, 2022
WoW! Such a beautifully illustrated story about how the little pet bunny became the Easter Bunny! It all began with an elderly couple that weaved all the baskets, colored all the eggs, melted all the chocolate to make the candy eggs all so they could give them to all the children after church. As they prepared the baskets every year, their little bunny watched and learned how until finally he took over. I highly recommend this book to kids of all ages especially around the Easter holiday.
April 21, 2022
Of all the Easter books I checked out I liked this one best. It has lovely illustrations and gives a sweet origin story to the Easter bunny. We’ve read it a bunch this year and I think it would be a good one for a holiday collection.
April 10, 2023
A sweet little story with darling, gentle illustrations full of charming little details -- ever so slightly reminiscent of an Elsa Beskow and the like, I think. I probably would have loved it as a kid.
February 23, 2017
a cute take on how the Easter Bunny's beginnings. Sweet but a little long for a board book. Toddler or a great one on one.
March 23, 2019
An interesting story about the origins of Easter Bunny that lacks the pizzazz necessary for a great book. The delicate fine illustrations fit the story but also fail to create any excitement.
March 5, 2022
Would get again for next easter. beautiful illustrations, cute story.
March 16, 2022
Aw, what a sweet story!
April 1, 2022
Lovely story, nice illustrations. A good intro to tell children that are other types of Easter and spring celebrations.
Read
April 11, 2022Privind, înveți să dăruiești.
April 20, 2022
I have major issues with children's books that use any variation of fat to describe people (this one uses round) or that uses the word old to describe people.
Want to read
June 26, 2024SM
March 21, 2025
A decent book for kids if you don’t care much about Easter (or the religious aspect of it).
March 22, 2025
Meh. The illustrations are fine. The story is fine. we don't do Easter baskets so this is just like another fairy tale. It was fine.
April 9, 2018
Beautiful art work and sweet story.
April 15, 2014
The Story of the Easter Bunny was such a sweet story. Its charm had much to do with the little, old couple. Their acts of kindness were inspiring. I loved how the bunny was there with them every step of the way and was able to take part in the process. The ending of the tale was unexpected but acceptable.
April 15, 2014
Filled with breathtaking illustrations we see the story of an "old, round couple" who spent every winter making baskets and eggs to distribute to the children of their village on Easter…and their rabbit who watched, helped and then took over for them when they became too old. This is just a lovely book!
April 4, 2012
This is a sweet story that describes the origin of the Easter bunny. The narrative is short and repetitive and the illustrations are softly picturesque and colorful. We enjoyed reading this story together and it's a good book to read in time for the holiday.
February 9, 2015
A nice little fantasy about how Easter Bunny began. Nice to have a bit of magic and fantasy in our lives and young children's lives. Great to read before Easter and before an Easter egg hunt.
Gorgeous illustrations. An enchanted little village.
Gorgeous illustrations. An enchanted little village.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews