Around the Passover Table

by Tracy Newman, Adriana Santos (Illustrator)

Overview

Everyone loves to celebrate Passover with the traditional seder meal.

The candles are lit, the seder plate filled, and the matzo stacked high. Join in to read, sing, eat, and observe the holiday. The many steps of a Passover seder are portrayed in this rhyming story.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807504468
Publisher:	Whitman, Albert & Company
Publication date:	03/01/2019
Edition description:	None
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.10(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Tracy Newman is the author of numerous children's books including Shabbat Hiccups and Uncle Eli's Wedding. She lives with her family and two cats in Connecticut.

Adriana Santos worked as a graphic designer before pursuing her interest in illustration. When she’s not creating, Adriana loves to read and hang out with her children. She lives in Spain.

Editorial Reviews

02/20/4

As a group gathers for Passover, Newman and Santos walk readers through a joyful evening. After everyone admires “fresh springtime flowers and once-a-year dishes,” the seder gets underway. There are roles for all, including the pets, who join in the singing of “Dayenu.” The authors don’t elucidate the steps in their exact order—the four glasses of wine (here, grape juice) are checked off on a single spread. But the overall arc of the ritual service and dinner is conveyed in succinct rhymes (“Dip karpas, swish, swish/ Take turns, pass the dish”). Santos emphasizes the sense of a shared experience by including the entire table in most of the cartooned compositions, keeping the visuals fresh by slightly shifting perspectives. While not the most galvanizing depiction, the book does positively model proper seder behavior, with nary a complaint of “When do we eat?” Ages 3–5. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly

"Young children will enjoy this very basic introduction to a Jewish holiday celebration."—Kirkus Review


"As a group gathers for Passover, Newman and Santos walk readers through a joyful evening."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

04/01/2019

PreS-K-This rhyming tale's spare text cursorily describes a seder, but is likely to leave anyone not already knowledgeable about the holiday in the dark. The story is a poeticized list of the events that comprise a Passover seder, each stanza followed on the facing page with the refrain "At our table for this seder night." The trite text is so brief as to be unenlightening, and the meter, rhyme, and rhythm falter at times. The illustrations, while cartoony and slightly slick looking, have a lot going for them. The seder participants are multicultural, including two dark-skinned, curly haired children and their dark-skinned mom and light skinned dad, along with their hosts, a multigenerational white family. Each step of the seder service is cleverly represented in the pictures, and those in the know will delight in finding all of the details included. There is an extensive page of back matter that explains the seder in detail and includes a glossary of the specific terms embedded in the text. But the back matter, while useful, is not enough to make up for the fact that the text, clearly intended for the youngest listeners, will not be accessible to the uninitiated without a lot of extra explaining. VERDICT Jewish schools and libraries in search of a book about the seder experience to enhance existing learning may want to consider this as an additional purchase, but most others can pass over this weak offering.-Amy Lilien-Harper, Wilton Library, CT

School Library Journal

2019-01-15

It's a festive Passover Seder for two families.

"With fresh springtime flowers and once-a-year dishes, / Two candles stand straight / See our grand seder plate / At our table for this seder night." A white father, black mother, and their two children join an all-white multigenerational family for the spring Jewish festival of Passover. The narrator, the young son of the hosting family, describes the cushions on the chairs, the wine/grape-juice glasses, the special foods, the water for washing hands and the water for dipping greens, the afikomen for hiding, and Elijah's and Miriam's cups for two very special guests. All this is related with the cheerful refrain: "At our table for this seder night." Those who observe and those who are unfamiliar with the many steps of the Seder will enjoy the details tailored to a young audience—the family pets join in as the celebrants sing "Dayenu," among other side business. Readers hoping for more background information on Elijah's and Miriam's cups will be disappointed, however. The digital illustrations are lively and spirited, featuring many smiling faces and kippot on the men and boys.

Young children will enjoy this very basic introduction to a Jewish holiday celebration. (author's note, glossary) (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews