Chil­dren’s

The Lit­tle Red Hen and the Passover Matzah

Leslie Kim­mel­man; Paul Meisel, illus.
  • Review
By – September 9, 2011
A beloved sto­ry­book char­ac­ter is giv­en a Yid­dish twist in this clever and humor­ous retelling. Real­iz­ing that Passover will be here before she knows it, the Lit­tle Red Hen sets about prepar­ing to make matzah from start to fin­ish. But who will help her plant, har­vest, grind, and schlep the wheat? Not her lazy friends Sheep, Horse, and Dog, who dis­ap­point her at every step (“Friends, schmends…I’ll just do it myself”). Final­ly Passover arrives and it’s time to make the matzah, which the Lit­tle Red Hen accom­plish­es in the man­dat­ed eigh­teen min­utes accord­ing to Jew­ish law.” She sets her Seder table, pre­pares the tra­di­tion­al foods, and is just wait­ing for the sun to set when who should come knock­ing at the door? Those nogood­niks Sheep, Horse, and Dog, of course. What chutz­pah!” scolds the Lit­tle Red Hen, but remem­ber­ing the edict Let all who are hun­gry come and eat,” her men­schy self pre­vails and she invites them in. At least they do the dish­es! Pleas­ing water­col­or-and-ink car­toon style illus­tra­tions add to the humor (check out the baby chick wear­ing a yarmulke). Includes a brief expla­na­tion of Passover and instruc­tions for mak­ing matzah. A per­fect hol­i­day title for all Judaica col­lec­tions. For ages 4 – 8.
Teri Mark­son has been a children’s librar­i­an for over 18 years. She is cur­rent­ly the act­ing senior librar­i­an at the Val­ley Plaza Branch Library in North Hol­ly­wood, CA.

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