Under the Sea Seder

During a seder, a young Jewish girl gets antsy. Miri is too noisy, and her parents don’t like the way she “slurp[s] down her grape juice” or “crunch[es] on a matzah.” She and Abby, her cat, find a way to flee the boring, long meal. They hide under the table, where a fish embroidered on the tablecloth seemingly comes to life, sea plants grow, and a seder submarine carries the pair under the sea. They find themselves at a seder attended by three wildly colored sea monsters, complete with a seder plate containing symbolic holiday foods. Everyone comes together to celebrate, the creatures, Abby, and Miri speaking, respectively, Sea Monster, Cat, and Hebrew (all translated into English in footnotes) and the others listening as Miri begins the four questions. They then leave the table for dancing. But Miri hears her parents calling, so she and Abby return to the sub and head home in time for Miri to sing seder songs and dance with her family. With overtones of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are (1963), this read-aloud brings a creative element to the holiday. The humorous, vibrant illustrations depict most human character as light-skinned, though one guest has dark brown skin. The author provides useful ideas for actively involving children in the holiday. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Marine fun and fantasy make for a magical Passover celebration. (note to families) (Picture book. 4-6) --Kirkus Reviews

Ann Koff­sky has cre­at­ed a mag­i­cal under-the-sea envi­ron­ment sure to enter­tain chil­dren as Passover approach­es. Like many kids, young Miri is bored and rest­less dur­ing her fam­i­ly’s seder; adult voic­es drone on, grape juice is nois­i­ly slurped, and the crunch­ing matzah is messy. But the world under the table­cloth allows Miri’s active imag­i­na­tion to thrive. Accom­pa­nied by her pet cat, she explores an ocean­ic won­der­land. They meet fan­ci­ful, bright­ly col­ored sea crea­tures with whom they share a seder filled with enthu­si­as­tic song and dance. Miri then returns to the world of her fam­i­ly seder in time to sing the tra­di­tion­al Passover songs, and every­one starts to dance, hav­ing great fun together.

An author’s note reminds fam­i­lies that the seder need not be a long, drea­ry affair. Act­ing, mov­ing, singing, and play­ing can be eas­i­ly incor­po­rat­ed to enliv­en the expe­ri­ence and include chil­dren who sim­ply can­not sit still. (Koff­sky notes that the rab­bis who designed the ear­li­est seders were con­cerned about main­tain­ing the inter­est of all the par­tic­i­pants.) She encour­ages fam­i­lies to think about cre­ative activ­i­ties they can add to encour­age par­tic­i­pa­tion and max­i­mize learn­ing. The art accom­pa­ny­ing the text, with its rich, deep col­ors and humor­ous touch­es, is as vibrant and imag­i­na­tive as Miri. --Jewish Book Council