Matzah Belowstairs

by Susan Lynn Meyer, Mette Engell (Illustrator)

Overview

Miriam Mouse's family always celebrates Passover Belowstairs, while the human Winklers celebrate Abovestairs. But this year Miriam is finding it hard to get a piece of matzah to use for the Mouse family afikomen as the human family has decided to store their matzah in a tin. All seems lost for the Mouse family seder, until young Eli Winkler shares the afikomen with her.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541548886
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/01/2019
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	24
File size:	11 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	6 - 7 Years

About the Author

Susan Lynn Meyer is the author of several books, including picture books, as well as middle grade novels Black Radishes and Skating with the Statue of Liberty. She lives outside Boston with her family and her cat, Molly.
Mette Engell is a self-taught children's illustrator and a surface designer. She lives by the ocean in Denmark with her husband and their three kids, two cats, and a lionhead bunny in a blue house filled with art supplies, picture books, and Legos.

Editorial Reviews

02/20/4

Two loving Jewish families live at the Winkler house: “Abovestairs” are the Winklers themselves; “Belowstairs”—under the floorboards—is the Mouse family. All the inhabitants are anticipating Passover, but the Mouse family’s preparations are in crisis: the Winklers have put their matzah in a new, impenetrable tin (“Nobody could chew through that,” says Grandpa Mouse), and how can the Mouses have their Seder if they can’t forage for matzah? Leave it to the youngest, smallest members of each family—Eli Winkler and Miriam Mouse—to solve the problem: they turn the ancient ritual of finding the afikoman into an opportunity to restock the Mouses’ matzah supply. Meyer’s breezy, brief text lifts the story, and Engell’s wide-eyed, anxious mice should resonate with readers experiencing their own family’s holiday-related shpilkes. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

"Two loving Jewish families live at the Winkler house: “Abovestairs” are the Winklers themselves; 'Belowstairs'—under the floorboards—is the Mouse family. All the inhabitants are anticipating Passover, but the Mouse family’s preparations are in crisis: the Winklers have put their matzah in a new, impenetrable tin ('Nobody could chew through that,' says Grandpa Mouse), and how can the Mouses have their Seder if they can’t forage for matzah? Leave it to the youngest, smallest members of each family—Eli Winkler and Miriam Mouse—to solve the problem: they turn the ancient ritual of finding the afikoman into an opportunity to restock the Mouses’ matzah supply. Meyer’s breezy, brief text lifts the story, and Engell’s wide-eyed, anxious mice should resonate with readers experiencing their own family’s holiday-related shpilkes." —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

2019-01-15

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)

Kirkus Reviews