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MATZAH BELOWSTAIRS by Susan Lynn Meyer

MATZAH BELOWSTAIRS

by Susan Lynn Meyer ; illustrated by Mette Engell

Pub Date: Feb. 1st, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-5415-2168-1
Publisher: Kar-Ben

It’s not a proper holiday dinner without all the ingredients, and a Passover Seder needs matzah.

Passover is about to start, and there is consternation in one apartment. Well, not for the human family but for the mouse family who lives in their Belowstairs home. There is no matzah, not even a crumb for the mouse-sized celebration. Grandpa Mouse blames it on the human family’s new tin box. The humans proceed with the Seder Abovestairs, and the father hides the afikoman. When the youngest child, Eli, goes in search of the hidden board of matzah, Miriam Mouse watches with great interest. The two meet, and Miriam comes up with the perfect solution—an even split. Passover can proceed for the rodents, and the Seder can conclude for the humans. The human family is depicted as observant, with the men wearing kippot. The mice also wear them. The story is slight, and even with a very brief author’s note, those who do not celebrate Passover will not gain any understanding of this very important and meaningful holiday. Meanwhile, those who do may find themselves feeling insulted by its rudimentary nature. The digitized illustrations are colorfully comic in style, but they do not make the most of the difference in sizes between the humans and the rodents. The humans present white, and Eli wears glasses.

Not a necessary or even additional purchase.

(author’s note) (Picture book/religion. 3-5)