Passover Magic

      

I chose this book because of two reasons: being a Christian the word "Passover" caught my eye, and its Easter time, so the whole religious theme fits!

       This story is pretty much about a Jewish family, preparing for their relatives to come over for Passover. The magic comes into play, because of their uncle, Harry, who is a magician with his assistant also being his wife. The children of the story, are amazed by his magic as usual. The story is just a story line, plot , timeline, of the events happenings at traditional Jewish gathering, but having the magic in the family, the kids have to hunt for the sacred bread, matzoh, that they break and partake in after dinner, or sedar. The magician is the one who hides it, and in order for the children to find it, he has them close their eyes, and think of what Passover means to them, what do they see when they think of Passover? and then it appears. Of course ending in full stomachs, readings of books, children playing, the main character, the eldest daughter ends the story thinking of the magic of Passover.

       This story book is a realistic fiction book. Of course being thought up by the author, but historically and realistically about real life things: Passover, family, love, etc.

       The illustrations in this book help explain a lot of what's going on. This story has many, many words in it, that may loose a child while reading, as well as some Jewish terms that they may not understand, or even some things that they may not have heard of. But the realistic and artistic water coloring in the pictures show so much detail. From the animals and pets, to the full stomachs, to the wind blowing when the door opened, to the food that they rolled in balls. Everything is broken down into every illustration, from every page of words.

       Becoming a future teacher, I would use the religious aspect as a way to bring religion back into schools. SO many schools now are taking this out of education, because no one wants to hear about it. But I'm a Christian and I must spread the word. I wont force anyone to believe,  but we will learn about different cultures and religions in our classroom. We will also make small, symbolic memoirs to take home around Easter time, based on what religion we believe in.

       After reading...
1) Do you know what Passover is?
2) What religion does your family believe in and follow by?
3) At what time of year does your entire family gather together for dinner?

Schotter, Roni. (1995). Passover Magic (First edition). Canada, USA: Little, Brown & Company.