Review of “Owl B. Blue on Easter” by Robert Sudano

Score: 92/100 (9.2 out of 10)

Owl B. Blue on Easter is a colorful and ambitious children's Christian book by Robert Sudano!

This book follows a little blue owl who hears the story of Jesus' death during the Easter season. He is saddened, heartbroken, and more than a little confused. How can your hero and savior die? Why did he die? And what happens now?

These are actually questions that young and new Christians ask all the time. We know this because we have Christians who've helped lead youth groups among us. Teaching the Bible to children can be very challenging because it deals with extremely serious subjects like illness, war, and death. How do you introduce these things to children without terrifying or traumatizing them? Well, this book takes a positive perspective, choosing to demonstrate to children that all things—the good and the seemingly bad—are all part of God's grand plan. Everything works out for God's glory.

It cleverly takes a page out of Phil Vischer's Veggie Tales strategy of using non-human, anthropomorphic characters to bring children to Christ and to help them understand the Bible (which is, admittedly, quite complicated). People dedicate their entire lives and careers to understanding the Bible.

For Blue Owl, hearing that Jesus died during Easter time is a crushing blow to his faith and general outlook. However, his parents, who are older and wiser Christians, are able to explain to him that Jesus did die, but that he isn't dead anymore. He is risen! And he lives in heaven alongside his father, God. Furthermore, the world is waiting for his return—the second coming.

His new friend, Purple Owl, corroborates what Blue's parents have told him. She attends church and reads the Bible regularly, so she is able to share this knowledge with him. She even encourages him to read his Bible to learn more. It's a book with all the answers he's looking for.

Now, this book's ultimate message is beautiful and powerful. The main weaknesses of this book are the illustrations and the writing. Now, with that said, these are far from the worst illustrations we've seen. They are more than adequate. They are colorful, bright, vibrant, and everything is easily distinguishable. However, we would've loved to have seen a more experienced or skilled illustrator take a crack at this.

The writing, similarly, isn't bad. In fact, the rhyming might be appealing to young children. However, the rhyme scheme is also incredibly simplistic, and there are times when the rhymes and word choices seem forced.

The other thing that you have to be prepared for is that this book isn't just a Christian book, it's a very heavy-handed Christian book. If you're not already in-tune with that ideology or saved, this is going to come across as a little bizarre to you. For example, there's a moment when Blue Owl starts hopping all around and cheering “Praise be to Jesus!” after learning that Jesus is alive. Now, this might not be strange to a Christian, but to a non-Christian, this might seem alien. Very rarely do you meet someone who is this zealous about their religion. However, it could be argued: shouldn't we?

Jesus' death and resurrection is the greatest triumph of the Christian faith. It is a moment that changed the course of history and opened the gateway for salvation for all of humankind. If you are trying to introduce your children to Christianity, books like these are a literal godsend.

Check it out on Amazon!