As Rab­bi B. A. Men­sch and her fam­i­ly are busy prepar­ing for Passover, strange occur­rences keep pop­ping up to thwart their efforts. Matzah keeps dis­ap­pear­ing, then reap­pear­ing. Matzah balls roll away on their own, even the Rabbi’s Hag­gadah seems to have rewrit­ten itself. Instead of the Four Ques­tions, for exam­ple, there is one real­ly long word: ​“Whydon’tyouforgetaboutthissederandgobacktoEgypt?” So before you can say, ​“Faster than a speed­ing matzah ball,” Rab­bi Men­sch spins into Rab­bi Rock­et­pow­er and the chase is on. With chap­ter titles such as, ​“Matzah Mat­ter With This Seder?” and ​“The Matzah Goes Bal­lis­tic,” author Susan Abram­son will win you over with humor. 

The many tra­di­tions asso­ci­at­ed with the cel­e­bra­tion of Passover are woven into the excit­ing adven­tures-teach­ing young read­ers with­out them even know­ing it. As always, the book con­tains an excel­lent glos­sary, with all of the terms from the sto­ry clear­ly defined, and sev­er­al recipes, includ­ing a fam­i­ly favorite: Choco­late-Cov­ered Matzah Brit­tle. This book is a win­ner for fun-lov­ing kids, and espe­cial­ly for reluc­tant read­ers, or those chil­dren who are fans of com­ic series like Cap­tain Under­pants or Diary of a Wimpy Kid. Have fun! Rec­om­mend­ed for read­ers ages 7 – 10.