Chil­dren’s

The Great Mat­zoh Hunt

Jan­nie Ho
  • Review
By – October 10, 2011
The seder is over and it’s time to look for the mat­zoh,” so begins the first Jew­ish con­tent inac­cu­ra­cy in this col­or­ful­ly illus­trat­ed lift the flaps board book. Rab­bit, duck, lamb, and tur­tle are gath­ered around a table set with emp­ty plates and wine gob­lets. Each cute ani­mal search­es for the mat­zoh in a dif­fer­ent room of the house. Tur­tle search­es the kitchen where instead of mat­zoh he finds a melt­ing ice cream cone, a flour can­is­ter and two cup­cakes, foods that are tra­di­tion­al­ly not found in a Passover kitchen. Aside from the men­tion of seder and mat­zoh this book is void of any Jew­ish teach­ings, val­ues or sym­bols. The illus­tra­tions are col­or­ful and cute, but the objects found under the flaps do not make sense. For exam­ple, pen­guins are found in the freez­er and mouse asleep in a bed is found in a suit­case. Geared for ages 3 and up The Great Mat­zoh Hunt is unin­ter­est­ing and has noth­ing to offer besides its col­or­ful illus­tra­tions. Pre-school.
Ilka Gor­don has a Mas­ters in Edu­ca­tion from Boston Uni­ver­si­ty and an M.L.I.S. from Kent State Uni­ver­si­ty. She is a librar­i­an at Sie­gal Col­lege of Juda­ic Stud­ies in Cleveland.

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