In an unusu­al twist, a frog is the pro­tag­o­nist of this whim­si­cal seder night sto­ry. As he con­tin­ues to eat matzah and drink grape juice, he hears the sto­ry of the Jews when they were slaves in Egypt and dur­ing the ten plagues that occurred before they were free to leace Egypt. The frog is sad­dened by the fact that he is one of the plagues but inter­est­ed in learn­ing more about the events. Through­out, the frog’s emo­tions are por­trayed; he is alter­nate­ly sad, mad, scared, wor­ried, or hap­py. At the con­clu­sion, the frog wish­es that he could be Jew­ish. Each part of the seder sto­ry is told with rep­e­ti­tion that builds lay­er upon lay­er, and the devel­op­ment of the sto­ry keeps the read­er’s inter­est through­out. The telling is effec­tive and is appeal­ing to young read­ers and lis­ten­ers. Clear­ly influ­enced by the pop­u­lar Lau­ra Jaffe Numeroff series, this tale empha­sizes the Jew­ish com­po­nent of the Exo­dus story.

The illus­tra­tions are col­or­ful and por­tray mul­ti­ple aspects of Passover tra­di­tions. Can­dles, matzah and wine cup all assist in the telling of the sto­ry. This review­er needs to men­tion the pres­ence of a bowl of peas dis­played on the seder table. While some Sep- hardic Jews eat peas on Passover, Ashke­nazi Jews do not, and read­ers may be sur­prised by their presence.

Rec­om­mend­ed for read­ers and lis­ten­ers ages 4 – 7.