The Easter Surprise (Sweet Pea & Friends Series #5)

by Jennifer Churchman, John Churchman

Overview

The fifth book by the authors of the media sensation and instant New York Times bestseller The SheepOver, featuring a curious bunny and her baby farm animal friends solving an Easter mystery together.

Fern the bunny wakes up one morning to a surprise: the squirrels have discovered a beautifully decorated egg in their tree! And it's not just the squirrels—Mo the kitten, the goslings, the puppies, and even the lambs have all found special eggs hidden around the farm. As the baby animals follow clues from one egg to the next, Fern thinks she sees two soft, pointy ears peeking out above the grass. Then she notices a fluffy tail disappearing behind the barn. Then she spots long whiskers twitching among the flowers! Someone is watching, and the animal friends will have to solve their Easter mystery together to find out who.

With vividly evocative photo illustrations, John and Jennifer Churchman bring to life a delightful story based on real animals and events on their Vermont farm.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316411660
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	02/12/2019
Series:	Sweet Pea & Friends Series , #5
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	274,855
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

John Churchman is a photographer, artist, and farmer.
Jennifer Churchman is a multimedia artist and writer.

John and Jennifer combine their talents to give voice to the stories of all the animals who surround them and add boundless enjoyment to their lives. They have made their home on a small farm in the beautiful countryside of Essex, Vermont, with their daughter Gabrielle. They are also the authors of Brave Little Finn, A Farm for Maisie, Alpaca Lunch, and the New York Times bestseller The SheepOver.

Editorial Reviews

02/20/4

The Churchmans first introduced Moonrise Farm and its animal residents in The SheepOver. The series continues with an Easter-themed story starring Fern, a tawny-colored rabbit, who is looking for a friend who “promised her a surprise today.” Fern roams a springtime barnyard, pasture, and light-bathed woodland, where she discovers an Easter egg featuring an image of an orange kitten: “The picture on that egg looks just like Mo the farm kitten.” Ornately illustrated eggs by Ukrainian artist Theresa Somerset use Jan Brett–style visual foreshadowing, featuring images of the animals that will appear next. (“Fern discovered Mo prowling around the kitchen garden.”) Readers familiar with the other titles in the Sweet Pea & Friends series will appreciate the reappearance of characters, including Sweet Pea the sheep and sheepdog Maisie. The joyful photo illustrations offer a dreamlike, pastoral world that readers will be eager to revisit. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"The magical quality of the photographic illustrations and the enchanting eggs give this Easter-themed story extra appeal."—Kirkus Reviews

"Ornately illustrated...joyful photo illustrations offer a dreamlike, pastoral world that readers will be eager to revisit."
—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2019-01-15

A rabbit named Fern solves a mystery as she follows clues in the shape of decorated eggs painted with the faces of her farm-animal friends.

A dramatic cover photograph of a huge rabbit in a basket of intricately decorated Easter eggs draws readers into this story, the fifth in the Sweet Pea & Friends series. The story is illustrated with photographs of the animals that live on the author-photographer team's farm in Vermont, with a large cast of characters who have appeared in previous books in the series. The production values of these digitally composed photographic illustrations are outstanding, with an oversized format, high-quality paper, and brilliant colors that showcase the beautifully painted eggs hidden throughout. Many of the eggs are painted in Ukrainian folk-art style, with one large egg on each spread decorated with an animal character's face, predicting the appearance of that animal on the next spread. The actual story is a little too wordy for the intended audience, with a rather confusing total of 17 named characters to keep straight as the simple mystery of who planted the eggs unfolds. The solution to the mystery of the face-bedecked eggs is, of course, revealed with the appearance of the Easter Bunny, who has been glimpsed throughout the previous illustrations. A concluding note provides more information about the farm animals and the artist who painted the eggs.

The magical quality of the photographic illustrations and the enchanting eggs give this Easter-themed story extra appeal. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews