all a-twitter: Easter books

Here we are in Holy Week, the holiest of our liturgical year.  Beginning with Palm Sunday, we go through Holy Week to Good Friday, Holy Saturday, and -- at long last and with great joy -- Easter Sunday.

To mark the solemnity of the week with our bambini, we have a couple of books in our home library that are particularly fitting for this week, both featuring birds as the primary characters experiencing Christ's love for them:

The Easter Swallows by Vicki Howie is a telling for young children of Christ's passion and death through the eyes of a pair of swallows.  They see Christ ministering to the people around Jerusalem, then on the evening of the Passover they spot Judas leaving the Last Supper to hand Jesus over to the Roman authorities.  Dismayed as they are, they remain faithful to Jesus and follow the events that lead to his crucifixion and resurrection, ultimately rejoicing on Easter morning.

Meryl Doney's The Very Worried Sparrow is the story of a perpetually fretful little sparrow too scared of bad things happening to be able to hear the good news of "God our Father, who made the world and everything in it."  From his childhood until he becomes a father himself, he lives in constant fear.  Finally he is able to hear the comforting and hopeful message of God's love for him and all creatures, and the sparrow's worry turns to joy.

By fun coincidence, both sets of birds have four baby birds -- like our family soon will.

Both books are available via the Pauline website.