Meet the Matzah

PreS-Gr 3–A follow-up to Meet the Latkes, this picture book also starts with a character’s confusion about a Jewish holiday. Alfie Koman, a student made of matzah, is asked by his teacher, Mrs. Crust, to share the details of Passover with his other anthropomorphic bready classmates. Alfie Koman (a play on the Passover afikomen) is just like his namesake: he likes to hide! Loaf, the class sourdough, seizes this opportunity to begin his own retelling of the story of Passover. In Loaf’s tale, Pha-roach is the ruthless ruler, forcing the Hebrews to build him a swimming pool. Mighty Moses, a superhero, proclaims 10 plagues on the Pha-roach palace that includes broccoli for dessert and no Wi-Fi. Alfie will have to be brave enough to speak up and stop Loaf from ruining the retelling of Passover. This Passover story, bent with a secular lens, where “Mighty Moses” or Moses is centered as the redeemer, is a laugh-out-loud comedic book filled with puns that will be adored by fans of David Ezra Stein’s Interrupting Chicken and Cece Bell’s I Yam a Donkey.