Keeping Christ in Easter. Some Christians view the Easter Bunny the same way they do Santa Clause – as a secular commercialized distraction from sacred events pivotal to the faith. With The Story of the First Easter Bunny, noted Christian author Anthony DeStefano, who has penned books both for children (This Little Prayer of Mine, Little Star) and adults (I Just Can’t Take it Anymore!, The Invisible World) uses the fanciful tail tale of the holiday rabbit to convey deep truths about the holy day to kids.

JWK: How did you get into writing Christian books and, specifically, Christian books aimed at kids?

Anthony DeStefano: From the time I was very little I wanted to be two things — a writer and a doctor. Mainly I had this great desire to be a heart surgeon. And I would have succeeded too, but a couple of little things got in the way — like organic chemistry and integral calculus! So, when that didn’t work out, I went back to my other ambition, writing. I first got involved in writing political speeches and ghostwriting textbooks for various teachers. Then, sometime in my mid-twenties, I started to become committed to my faith again. There were a lot of reasons for this but mainly it had to do with some of the books I was reading—and one in particular.

I happened to be in England and found myself on a train from London to Lancashire. I had purchased a paperback copy of C. S. Lewis’s book The Screwtape Letters at the Westminster Abbey bookstore in London and started to read it. I had only gone through a few pages when I knew I was onto something special. This was the first time I had ever read anything spiritual that made me laugh and think at the same time. It was so clever and so intelligent and so well written that I actually read the whole thing cover-to-cover and then started over again right after I finished. I’d never done that with any book before. Anyway, I had an epiphany on that train ride. I realized that maybe there was a way I could combine both of the great ambitions of my life. I realized that maybe God had given me the desire of my childhood to be a doctor for a reason. Maybe I couldn’t be a heart surgeon but if I could write books like this – of course not as good) – then perhaps I could still be a healer. Maybe I couldn’t physically heal people with surgery but perhaps I could help heal them mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.

Regarding the appeal of children’s books for me, I’ve always wanted to write as simply as possible. In fact, the first serous writing I ever did was back in High School. My creative writing teacher was a man named Frank McCourt who went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for his book, Angela’s Ashes. Mr. McCourt thought the biggest writing problem teenagers had was their desire to write elaborately, with too many adjectives and adverbs. So, in order to break them out of this habit, be gave us the assignment of writing children’s books because that would force us to write simply. The book I wrote for his class was a Christmas story called Little Star. He gave it an “A” and thirty years later it was published and became a bestseller for me.

Perhaps the reason I love writing children’s books is because I’ve always been awestruck by Jesus’ parables. Young people can understand them and people with little education can understand them – but at the same time they have depths that the greatest theologians and philosophers are still exploring today. They work on so many levels. And from the beginning of my writing career, I thought that it would be wonderful to try to do something like that in children’s books. I want kids to be able to get the main message in a powerful, entertaining way but I also want the adults who are reading these books to the kids to get something out of them too, some deeper understanding. So, my children’s books are for adults too.

JWK: What’s the difference between writing for adults and writing for kids?

AD: It’s much harder to write adult non-fiction books because it involves doing a lot of research and trying to articulate complex theological ideas in the simplest way possible, without compromising the theology. That can be tough work. You also do it slowly, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, alone every day in a little room. It’s very fulfilling work when it goes well but I wouldn’t say it’s happy work. Children’s books, on the other hand, are an absolute joy to write. I would say it’s more difficult to come up with a really good, original idea for a children’s book but, once you have the idea, the actual writing is easier—for me, anyway. Also, if you’re writing picture books, you get to work with an illustrator. That collaboration can be wonderful and also creatively stimulating: bouncing ideas off someone who’s very talented, seeing your words come to life—it’s great fun.

But everything I do creatively is driven by the actual ideas I happen to have. If I come up with an idea for a good children’s book, I’ll write that. If I have an idea for a good adult non-fiction book, I’ll try to see if there is a publisher interested and work on that. The truth, as I mentioned before, is that all of my books—even the kids’ books—are written with adults in mind.

JWK: How did the idea for The Story of the First Easter Bunny come to you?

AD: I’ve always wanted to “Christianize” or “Baptize” the Easter Bunny but I didn’t know how. I always wanted to place him in Palestine 2000 years ago and make him a witness to the Passion. But I needed something more to make the story compelling.

For years I’ve tried to think of a connection between rabbits and Christianity. In fact, I did a lot of research and I found that in pagan times rabbits were known for their ability to reproduce quickly and so they became symbols of fruitfulness and fertility. And to some extent that carried into Christian times because Christians are called to be fruitful and multiply and spread the faith. But this is a very hard connection to make in a children’s book, for obvious reasons. After all we don’t want to start talking about reproduction in a kid’s book! But then I hit upon another connection. Rabbits are famous for having large ears. And one day when I was reading the Gospels, I realized that this fact lends itself perfectly to a profound Christian teaching— namely, the necessity of being attentive to the Word of God. Throughout the whole Bible, and in several passages in the New Testament, we read about the importance of listening. In Matthew 11:15, in Mark 4:9, Jesus says “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” In Christian theology, the phrase “having ears to hear” means something very different than simply hearing words. It’s about truly understanding those words and internalizing their message. And as a result of that kind of attentive, active listening, people can bear much fruit in the Kingdom of God. So, in my children’s book, the bunny’s enormous ears are not just a physical attribute that rabbits have but they equate to spiritual receptivity.

Also, I wanted there to be some kind of genuine connection between the bunny and Jesus. And I thought of the fact that, when Jesus was hanging on the Cross, the last direct action he took was to entrust His mother to the Apostle, John. He said, “Son, behold thy mother,” and “Mother behold thy son.” Now of course there’s a lot of theological significance in this entrustment, but it’s also true on a strictly literal, personal level that Jesus wanted to make sure that His mom would be OK after He died. And I thought that if the bunny in the story had a sick mother and, if he witnessed the crucifixion, and heard with his big rabbit ears how Jesus had taken care of His own mother, that that might provide him with an even more poignant reason for visiting Jesus’ tomb afterwards and praying the line, that I have in the book—“Oh man in the tomb, please won’t you be kind, you helped your dear mother, now won’t you help mine?” In other words, the fact that the bunny has a sick mother whom he loves and is trying to care of her, makes it even easier for him to relate to Jesus. That’s the main reason I wrote the story this way – because I think it adds a strong emotional element to the book, that most people can relate to.

JWK: What do you say to those who say Easter is already too much about the Easter Bunny and not enough about the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

AD: Well, I wrote this book because I was tired of that silly secular Easter bunny hopping in and taking center stage on the most holy Christian day of the year! Parents can’t be blind to the fact that there is an ongoing culture war in our society and our deepest beliefs are under constant and relentless attack from the media and the entertainment industry. So, in order to make sure that our core religious convictions are not marginalized or compromised in any way, the true meaning of holy days like Easter has to always remain at the forefront of any catechesis for children. I mean, Easter celebrates Christ’s resurrection from the dead and the opening of the gates of Heaven—that’s is the very cornerstone of the Christian Faith. Parents have to be vigilant that this profound truth isn’t lost amidst all the chocolate treats and dyed Easter eggs. The bottom line is, I think it’s possible to judiciously permit some secular fun with characters like the Easter Bunny—for the purpose of adding excitement to the holidays for kids– but only as a kind of “spice, ” never as the main course. We need to be able to keep things in proper Christian perspective.

One of the ways we can make sure we keep the emphasis on Jesus Christ in holy days like Easter, without sacrificing some of the fun and playfulness offered by characters like the Easter Bunny, is to “adopt” them for our own purposes. As I said before, in my book, the main character is a bunny who lives in Biblical times. He actually witnesses the main events of the Passion week. He sees the Last Supper, the Crucifixion, and even the Resurrection.

This not only “Christianizes” him but it also makes it easier to teach children about what we celebrate at Easter. Because teaching kids about death can be scary to them. But to be able to give them an idea of what Easter is all about, to impart that message of hope in the resurrection without giving them nightmares about someone being tortured to death, by using an adorable, selfless bunny that they aren’t afraid of, I think is a valuable thing.

JWK: What do you hope kids – and maybe even adults – take from the story?

AD: I think the main thing I’d like to communicate is the central Christian message of hope in life after death: the fact that death isn’t the end of the story. The end of the story is resurrection and life everlasting in Heaven. God can pull good out of even the worst evil. That’s a message that all of us need to hear over and over and it’s a message kids need to hear very early because, no matter how much we try to shield and protect them from pain, there’s just no way to prevent them from experiencing suffering – and from grieving over people, and even pets in their lives, that die. When that happens, they have to be able to grieve in a healthy Christian way. And, ultimately that’s the difference between believers and non-believers. Believers don’t suffer and grieve any less than non-believers but they do suffer and grieve with hope. They don’t despair. And that belief in the Resurrection and Heaven is a gift we can give to our children that will help them have hope over the whole course of their lives. And it’s a seed I’ve tried to plant in this story—and in all the children’s books I’ve written.

JWK: As if you’re not busy enough, you’ve also worked in the pro-life movement for close to thirty years. You’re previous book Why Am I Here Anyway?, which I think is aimed at adults, makes it clear why you’re pro-life. Have you ever thought of tackling the subject on a child’s level?

AD: Yes, I’m thinking about that right now, as a matter of fact. Teaching children about abortion is not as difficult as many think. I remember once, I was giving a talk to a Christian group and I asked for a volunteer from among the youngest, smallest attendees. A little girl who was about five came forward. I had her stand next to me facing the people and asked her “Karen, are there people out there who are bigger than you?” “Yes!” she said. “Are there people out there who are older than you?” “Yes!” she said. “Are there people out there who are stronger than you?” “Yes!” she said again. Then I asked her “Are there people out there who are more special than you?” “No!” she immediately declared with great conviction in her voice.

The children always get the abortion answer right. They instinctively understand the lie that the smallest and weakest in society have less value than the rest of us. Children also have a keen sense of fairness and justice. They know what it means to need protection from dangers. They know what a baby is and they know that it’s wrong to kill a baby. So, it’s not necessary to teach children the details of reproduction before they learn that abortion is a bad thing. The basis for teaching about abortion is not human reproduction and sexuality but rather the dignity and worth of every human person, whether that person is big or small, young or old, healthy or sick, wanted or unwanted, convenient or inconvenient. The basis for teaching children about abortion is the commandment “Thou shalt not kill.”

Dr. Suess did write a story with this theme called Horton Hears a Who in which there is a famous refrain: “A Person’s a person no matter how small.” But, regrettably, the estate of Dr. Suess has tried to distance itself from the pro-life movement and has publicly stated the book is not meant to be pro-life. Regardless of what they say, however, the message of the pro-life book is undoubtedly there. Still, I’d like to write a more overtly pro-life book for children. We’ll see.

JWK: What else are you working on?

AD: I’m working on an adult non-fiction book on the subject of miracles. I think many people out there are suffering and need a miracle in their lives and a book like this might be helpful to them. Also…Sophia Institute Press will be releasing a children’s picture book by of mine called Christmas in Heaven. The book tells the story of a little boy who is sad because his grandmother has passed away. It’s Christmastime and the boy asks his grandfather where his grandmother might be. The grandfather responds by telling the boy that his grandmother is in Heaven. But, not only does he give the boy this consoling answer, he also explains that Christmas is Jesus’s birthday and that a great, festive birthday party is taking place in Heaven. He asks the boy to close his eyes while he describes the scene—a scene filled with angels and saints and music and laughter and joy and love and most of all, abundant life! Hopefully, this little book will not only give children a vision of Heaven but will help strengthen in them the virtue of hope—a hope that will assist them throughout their lives in dealing with fear, grieving, pain and suffering.
_____

The three-part docuseries Testament: The Story of Moses dropped today on Netflix. With the start of Passover just over the horizon on Monday, April 22nd, now is as good a time as any to release this epic production intersperses a dramatic telling of the life of the prophet’s life and times with clips several scholars offering their commentary. My thoughts follow the trailer below

IMHO: I previewed the first two episodes last night. While the production values were first rate, my first thought is that the producers should have decided whether they were making a dramatic miniseries or a documentary. As it is, it comes across as a scripted drama (with all the speculation re: dialogue between the characters that that implies) that is frequently interrupted by the analysis of scholars offering their learned analysis the dramatized events. I’m no theologian, of course, but it seemed to me that several of those came with a dash of Wokism. In any event, agree with their takes or not, the collision of storytelling techniques doesn’t work for me. The scholars detract from the drama and the drama detracts from the seriousness of the commentary.

The Bottom Line: The story of Moses has been brought to screen numerous times. This is certainly one of them.

Encourage one another and build each other up – 1 Thessalonians 5:11