The Other Side of Easter

Alexis Dallara-Marsh reviews a picture book that turns our cultural ideas about Easter upside-down.

Things aren't always what they seem at first glance. The Other Side of Easter by Beth Gully is a very sweet paperback book telling two stories in one, combining more secular Easter traditions with the biblical facts of the events that took place over Christ's Holy Triduum.

The book is written in rhyming verses involving easy-to-understand language. The first section concentrates on the season of spring, with themes of nature and Easter eggs and candies; and the second, the story of the Last Supper, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday. At first glance, the illustrations don't necessarily look like the traditional eye-catching kid-friendly pictures one might expect, and in the first side of the book they seem abstract, particularly for a younger audience.

But with further time, kids and adults alike will probably appreciate the very clever ways the illustrator manages to lay out pictures that can show different images when flipped upside-down.

For example, in one illustration seen are three persons and their shadows of crosses; in the next, eggs being replaced by silver coins when flipped upside-down. My favorite is a white flower that becomes a dove. In some ways the pictures remind me of those books where you look for a hidden object. Once I read the context that is second, or upside-down, everything came together and made sense.

Overall, I think this book can be a good educational resource for parents to refer to when trying to teach children about how the secular season of Easter may overlap with its religious themes.  

The Other Side of Easter is available from Amazon.com.

Copyright 2024 Alexis Dallara-Marsh
Images: (top, bottom) Canva; other images copyright Beth Gully, all rights reserved, used with permission.