A Jesus Easter

Tamar Pollard

This is such a good Easter devotional! It’s richly packed with amazing truths, full of helpful questions and notes, and adaptable for a range of ages. I love the way it doesn’t just show God’s rescue plan but also introduces the lies of Satan in all their different forms and the promises of Jesus that combat them and help us rest in him. I’m certain it will help families focus on our Saviour and also generate further discussions about everyday faith.

Jared Kennedy

Barbara Reaoch has created a deep, Christ-centered Easter resource that keeps in mind families where children's ages and attention spans vary. She doesn't hide the difficult parts of the story—Christ's suffering, the injustice of his death, and the miracle of his resurrection—but she provides helpful tools (a glossary, different questions for older and younger kids, and family journaling space) to keep every child in your family dialed in.

“Simple, Biblical, and Engaging”

A Jesus Easter is the latest family devotional by author Barbara Reaoch and it’s one that my family particularly enjoys! The book is divided into readings for families to go through in the thirty days leading up to Easter. Each devotion is broken up into the following three sections: Explore, Explain, Engage, and Enter In. The Explore section includes Bible verses to look up and read as well as a few simple questions about the verses. The Explain section contains brief devotional content and each devotion concludes by pointing to Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Engage section includes simple questions for parents to ask their children about the Bible verses and devotional content. Each devotion concludes with the Enter In section which contains a brief prayer prompt.

My husband and I generally read children’s Bibles with our girls who are three and six but we especially enjoyed going through the content of A Jesus Easter with them because it had us opening up the actual Bible and reading from it. We love our children’s Bibles but recognize that they are paraphrases of Scripture so it was nice to do something different for our family worship time and it was neat to see the girls engage with it. We really enjoyed A Jesus Easter and look forward to reading more by Barbara Reaoch in the future!

I received A Jesus Easter compliments of The Good Book Company in exchange for my honest review.

“Thought-Provoking Family Discussion Questions”

A Jesus Easter: Explore God’s Amazing Rescue Plan by Barbara Reaoch is an interactive family Bible study that walks you and your kids through the Easter story from Genesis on. Each entry includes a corresponding Bible reading, thoughtful questions to get you talking with your kids as well as an interactive space for your child to respond to the reading—such as drawing a picture or writing out a prayer.

I loved the questions included with each day’s reading. This could definitely also be used for a wide variety of ages; my children are 5 and 9, and because of the shorter attention spans, we were never able to get through all the questions.

One thing I would have loved is if the book was bigger or spiral-bound to make writing in it easier for little hands. This is also set up as a single-use book, rather than one you’d buy and use over and over again--but there are free downloads to get extra activity pages so you could always print those to use or for extra kids!

All in all, I enjoyed the conversations this book sparked for me and my kids as we inched toward Easter and prepared us for the joy and awe of that day!

Many thanks to The Good Book Co. who provided a free copy to me to facilitate this review.

“Simple, Biblical, and Engaging”

A Jesus Easter is the latest family devotional by author Barbara Reaoch and it's one that my family particularly enjoys! The book is divided into readings for families to go through in the thirty days leading up to Easter. Each devotional is broken up into the following three sections: Explore, Explain, Engage, and Enter In. The Explore section includes Bible verses to look up and read as well as a few simple questions about the verses. The Explain section contains brief devotional content and each devotion concludes by pointing to Jesus' death and resurrection. The Engage section includes simple questions for parents to ask their children about the Bible verses and devotional content. Each devotion concludes with the Enter In section which contains a brief prayer prompt.

My husband and I generally read children's Bibles with our girls who are three and six but we especially enjoyed going through the content of A Jesus Easter with them because it had us opening up the actual Bible and reading from it. We love our children's Bibles have but recognize that they are paraphrases of Scripture so it was nice to do something different for our family worship time and it was neat to see the girls engage with it. We really enjoyed A Jesus Easter and look forward to reading more by Barbara Reaoch in the future! I received A Jesus Easter compliments of The Good Book Company in exchange for my honest review.

“A great Easter resource for the Family!”

An excellent resource for families, especially leading up to Easter, as it starts with the Bible Narrative in the Garden of Eden then progresses through the scriptures. It has God's word at the forefront then a short commentary and questions. The family journal space is a bonus that my kids enjoy and you can really see what they are learning from their output on there.

“Our Great Rescuer”

How can you experience the Easter story with your children? In A Jesus Easter, Barbara Reoach helps you explore God’s amazing rescue plan. The first 10 days take you through the Old Testament, explaining the background and why Jesus had to come. Days 11-30 are about the Gospel and walk you alongside the life of Jesus.


Explore, Explain, Engage, and Enter In

This is an Easter workbook that can be used for families during Lent. Made for ages 3 - 12, it is adaptable to fit the needs of your family. Each day has four parts: Explore, Explain, Engage, and Enter in. To summarize each day, Reoach writes a simple true statement about Jesus. Family journaling space is also included.

What I love most about this book is how reading the Bible passage together as a family is the key activity. The explanation sections are brief, but will help you find your focus in the Biblical text. And the engagement questions are simple, yet personal, allowing you to truly reflect on Scripture.


Our Great Rescuer

What I most appreciated about this book was how it shows what Jesus gives us by his death and resurrection. For instance, Jesus gives us light and life, peace, life with him, and forgiveness. While we often think of Christmas as a time for giving presents, this book shows that Jesus gives us gifts during Easter. This is a wonderful way to read God’s Word.

This book is an excellent resource for families. Work through it during your family devotions, or give it to your older children to use during their own personal quiet times. With activities and questions to help keep you engaged, you will experience Easter and give worship to our great Rescuer.


I received a media copy of A Jesus Easter and this is my honest review.

“Wonderful”

I'm always on the look out for good devotionals for a family with young children and this was a wonderful addition to all that we have completed with our children.

First and foremost, the illustrations are amazing. Although most of the illustrations are on the front and back cover of the book, they are splattered throughout the book as well and they are simply fun.

The devotional consists of thirty days of diving into the Scriptural Easter story and each day is interactive with activities. There are four sections to each day:

- Explore: diving into the scripture reference for the day with questions to answer

- Explain: brief reading to dig further into the scripture reference

- Engage: additional questions to consider through the scripture reference

- Enter In: prayer

There is significant journaling space throughout the book and extra at the end of the book for family members to record their thoughts, drawings, etc. regarding the day's devotion.

The author states the book is ideal for families with children of all ages, but I would argue that a family with older children would have to take extra time to modify the devotion to be a bit more challenging. Reach does provide brief suggestions on how to accomplish this. This devotional, in general, does require the parents to engage in conversation as it doesn't provide all the "answers" for you. This allows each family a unique learning experience.

She does have an entire section dedicated to a review of biblical words and their meaning. She also provides a website resource that provides answers to the questions throughout each day. I would recommend not utilizing this as it often hinders the rawness of conversation.

I received a copy of this book from The Good Book Company in exchange for an honest review.