Chil­dren’s

Free At Last: From Mud to Mirth: A Pesach Tale

Michael Broll; David Chem­la, illus.
  • Review
By – March 30, 2015

Free at Last: From Mud to Mirth con­sists of both a Hag­gadah and a detailed expla­na­tion of the essence of Pesach, laid out in a way that all ages can appre­ci­ate. The fic­tion­al sec­tion at the begin­ning of the book focus­es on a Jew­ish teen in New York City named David Gold. David is learn­ing about Pesach and he and his fam­i­ly are at the Seder when an unex­pect­ed and unknown vis­i­tor knocks at the door, help­ing David to learn far more and in greater depth than he had ever expect­ed. The play- like dia­logue helps make the sto­ry acces­si­ble and easy to under­stand. The Hag­gadah has clear Eng­lish and Hebrew text. The illus­tra­tions are large and bright and add visu­al inter­est. The book is accom­pa­nied by a CD that pro­vides an alter­nate way to access the sto­ry and has the addi­tion­al ben­e­fit of pro­vid­ing music, help­ful in draw­ing in many read­ers for whom text alone may not be as engag­ing. Some­what dif­fer­ent than oth­er treat­ments of the Seder, this book is rec­om­mend­ed for ages 6 – 10

Nathan Weissler is a 2021 col­lege grad­u­ate from Mary­land, and has been review­ing for Jew­ish Book Coun­cil for over ten years.

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