Celebrated British children's author and artist Brian Wildsmith turns to the Easter story in this gorgeous picture-book, telling the tale of Easter Week from the perspective of the donkey which bears Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Jesus' actions at the Temple, his Last Supper with the disciples, his betrayal by Judas and trial before Pontius Pilate, all these are covered, as are his Crucifixion, Resurrection and eventual Ascension...

I had hoped to get to The Easter Story before the recent holiday, but my library request for this and a few other titles was delayed, and I read it a few days after Easter. It scarcely matters, I suppose, as I think I would have enjoyed it, no matter the time of year. From a visual perspective, I found it an astonishingly beautiful book - the art is simply breathtaking, with vivid colors, brilliant use of gold tones and accents, and wonderfully stylized scenes. I loved pretty much everything about these paintings, from the angels to the landscape depictions of Jerusalem. If judged upon artwork alone, this would easily be a five-star title for me. Unfortunately, I found the narrative a little less appealing. Although I understand the choice to tell this story from the donkey's perspective, as a means of adding child appeal, I don't think it really works here. I recently read two different picture-books about Palm Sunday, specifically - Marni McGee's The Colt and the King and Michelle Medlock Adams's Little Colt's Palm Sunday - in which the story was told from the asinine perspective. It worked in those books, because the donkey does play a central role in Palm Sunday. But here, the presence of the donkey in various scenes - peering in the window at the Last Supper, observing the trial - strained my suspension of disbelief, and made me wish that Wildsmith had chosen a different focus for his retelling. I still would recommend this one, for those seeking children's retellings of the Easter story, but I recommend it more for the artwork and the general story, than for the specific storytelling focus. ( )

Exquisite illustrations, with gold foil. These are actually so beautiful I bought a second book and have framed several of the pages. Can’t recommend it highly enough. ( )

Telling the story of Palm Sunday, Holy Week, the Passion, and Easter from the viewpoint of a donkey is a bit ... less than satisfactory, but the amazingly beautiful illustrations completely redeem the book. Probably ignoring the text and telling the story in one's own words would be the best way to "read" this book to a child. ( )

I don't think it even matters what the text says in Brian Wildsmith's books. His illustrations are the entire point of reading them, and they are just gorgeous.

Gorgeous illustrations highlighted in gold. Beautifully blended pastel backgrounds contrast nicely with the richly hued detailed characters in the foreground. Biblically accurate but for the little donkey's point of view.. ( )