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The Angel and the Dove: A story for Easter

Illustrated in a simple, sweet style that will attract many young children, this book seems to specifically target an audience of Christian chil”  dren already familiar with the Easter story:  while the text of the story focuses on the interactions of a dove and an angel who are observing spring in the hatching of eggs and blooming of poppies and birth of butterflies, the illustrations show it to be set during the time of the original Easter story — the people in the illustrations are dressed in biblical fashions; at one point when the text describes the sun going behind a cloud, the illustrations show three crosses on a hillside in the distance; after waiting with a crying woman in front of a tomb, the rock is rolled away and they are joined in the garden by a bearded man in a white robe, and the final line of the book states, ” For it was not just spring, but the very first Easter.” While it will likely be enjoyed by its target audience, readers who are not already familiar with the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus will find the book puzzling.