The Bunny Side of Easter
Let's welcome author and blogger Linda Rooks as she shares about her latest children's illustrate book.
As a high school student working on the school newspaper, I became fascinated by the discovery of a legend from India about the rabbit on the moon that seemed to mirror the Easter story about Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. I thought about it often and couldn’t let it go.
Years later I took on the challenge of taking the raw stuff of legend and turning it into a delightful story for children that not only uses the Easter bunny to point children to what Jesus did on the cross, but also introduces them to Asia’s iconic legend about the rabbit in the moon. For not only in India, but also in China, Japan, Korea, and even Mexico, the rabbit in the moon is such a popular figure that legends have arisen about him in each of their individual cultures. I knew children in America would love to know about him too.
And so I wrote The Bunny Side of Easter.
In The Bunny Side of Easter the heroism of a little bunny points children to the greatest hero of all, Jesus, but also tells how an angel rewards the rabbit by taking him to the moon where he can be seen from earth whenever there is a full moon.
Readers are delighted to discover they too can see a rabbit in the shadows on the west side of every full moon when they know what to look for. There are three different ways to see him. Some people see a rabbit facing left with his ears back and an Easter egg at his feet. Others see the rabbit facing right with his ears flopped over and his head bowed as though praying. A third way to see the bunny is a smaller bunny at the top with his ears back and paws up praying. Some people see the smaller bunny racing over the top of the moon.
For years, whenever my husband and I looked at a full moon, we talked about seeing the rabbit. But when I wrote The Bunny Side of Easter with illustrations, we discovered we were each seeing the rabbit in a different way. While I saw him looking to the left, my husband saw him facing right and praying. We’ve laughed about this many times.
The final thing that makes the bunny on the moon such an intriguing addition to the celebration of Easter is that it’s because of the moon that Easter is celebrated on a different date each year. Easter always comes on the Sunday following the first full moon after the beginning of spring. This year, the first full moon of spring appears on March 25, and Easter follows on March 31.
For parents who would like to let their children enjoy the Easter bunny but have qualms about how he fits into the Christian celebration of Easter, The Bunny Side of Easter fills the gap, taking readers on an exciting and charming adventure with hints of allegory that uses the heroism of the Easter bunny to point children to Jesus, the true hero of Easter.
About Linda:
Along with her children’s book, The Bunny Side of Easter, Linda W. Rooks is the award winning author of four books. Her writings have appeared in numerous publications, including Chicken Soup for the Soul, Focus on the Family, HomeLife, and Today’s Christian Woman. Linda has appeared on many TV, radio, and podcast interviews across North America. Click here for an autographed copy of The Bunny Side of Easter and a free puppet through Paypal.
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