Paulie's Passover Predicament

by Jane Sutton, Barbara Vagnozzi (Illustrator)

Overview

Paulie the moos-ician can hardly wait to host a Passover seder for his friends. Unfortunately, his seder doesn't turn out quite the way he planned. Will the hunt for the afikomen make the evening a success?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781512420975
Publisher:	Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date:	01/01/2018
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.63(w) x 9.13(h) x (d)
Age Range:	7 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jane Sutton is an award-winning author of picture books and novels for children. She grew up on Long Island and attended Brandeis University. Jane lives with her husband in the Boston area, as do their grown children and families. She is grateful to get lots of chances to babysit her grandchildren and hopes she makes fewer mistakes than Ruthie's Zayde.

Barbara Vagnozzi loves illustrating, especially inventing funny animals. She enjoys giving presentations, where she can tell stories to little ones near her home in Bologna, Italy.

Editorial Reviews

"Paulie the moosi-cian is all set to host a Passover seder for his friends, but the seder doesn’t go according to plan. There are too many mistakes and that makes the hunt for the hidden afi komen a real puzzle." - Cleveland Jewish News

From the Publisher

01/08/2018
Paulie the moose is hosting his first seder, and things aren’t going well. He carves a horse from a radish instead of horseradish for the maror (bitter herbs). He makes the charoset out of apples and chopped pinecones. And he gets stuck in the basement after finding the afikomen. Paulie’s friends can’t help but laugh at his Passover faux pas, but they love him. “Each thing still reminds us of the meaning of Passover—in a Paulie way,” says Sally the rabbit. Sutton’s nudges toward the subject matter are often far from subtle (when told he gets a reward for finding the afikomen, Paulie responds, “I don’t need one.... My reward is being free, like our ancestors on Passover”). But Paulie’s eagerness to get Passover perfect remains endearing, and Vagnozzi’s toylike, apple-cheeked animal cast exudes high spirits and open hearts. Ages 3–8. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

2018-02-19
A moose adds his own special culinary touches to the Passover Seder.Paulie, a moose, or "moos-ician," stops playing his guitar to do last-minute Passover shopping, during which he meets his friends, a rabbit and a hedgehog, who will be joining him. He adds some usual items to his cart such as grape juice and candles, then goes home to cook and set the table. His friends join him, including a skunk and a bear, but they notice that some food items are a little different from what they expected. The egg on the Seder plate is very large—from an ostrich. The salt water also has pepper in it. The charoset has apples and pine cones instead of apples and nuts. Parsley is replaced by grass, and the maror is a radish carved to look like a horse instead of horseradish. Finally, the lamb bone is a ball of wool from a lamb. Close…but….Searching for the afikomen adds drama and meaning to the evening celebration and makes it a happy Passover for the friends. Readers who are familiar with the spring holiday may find some of the antics amusing. Those who are new to it will likely be confused, particularly as a diagram of a Seder plate with the correct assemblage is not included to help orient them. The animals are all colorfully comic, however. Less than fun and more than silly. (Picture book/religion. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews