The Passover seder always includes ques­tions and answers, seek­ing and find­ing. Rebec­ca Gar­dyn Lev­ing­ton and Noa Kel­ner build on this premise in their inven­tive new book, in which read­ers are asked to find the afiko­man in a busy, well-stocked Jew­ish home. When the miss­ing matzah final­ly turns up, it dis­ap­pears once again, deter­mined to elude the chil­dren. With stick-fig­ure arms and legs, and a wary expres­sion in its eyes, this per­son­i­fied matzah choos­es loca­tions that seem to guar­an­tee his safety.

Mean­while, each room in the house pro­vides the chil­dren with oppor­tu­ni­ties to not only look for the afiko­man, but also to engage in oth­er kinds of fun not spe­cif­ic to Passover. A boy takes a break while relax­ing in the bath­tub, a girl rides a scoot­er, and a tod­dler enjoys sit­ting in a kitchen draw­er. But no one is dis­suad­ed from the ulti­mate goal. They con­tin­ue look­ing for the piece of matzah every­where, ​“beneath each chair” and between the ​“curls of Savta’s hair.” Each page is filled with humor, rhyme, and activity.

By depict­ing so much fam­i­ly life, the author and illus­tra­tor add a lay­er of mean­ing beyond the sim­ple look-and-find premise. If your family’s afiko­man search has become a bit stale, this excit­ing new book should liv­en things up.