Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail

While not the traditional holiday outcome, it should please celebrants and cat lovers all.

PreS-Gr 1--Simple, lyrical text describes how a contemporary Jewish family celebrates the Passover Seder. Inside, the house is filled with light and laughter as a young boy fills the ceremonial cup of wine for the Prophet Elijah, dips parsley in salt water, breaks the middle matzo, hears the story of the Jews' exodus from Egypt, and enjoys the holiday meal. Meanwhile, a small stray kitten waits alone in the dark for the moon to rise. When the time comes for the boy to open the door for the Prophet Elijah, the kitten has scampered up the walk and is waiting to be invited inside. The text concludes: "And that's how Elijah [the kitten] found a home." The luminous detailed illustrations--done in ink, charcoal, and digital collage--use deep gold, black, and blue tones to beautifully depict the contrast between the loving, festive atmosphere inside the house and the dark, still night outside. Readers will delight in finding the adorable white kitten on each spread and will notice how the kitten's actions outside mimic the boy's actions inside. A large, intergenerational and racially diverse family is warmly depicted. An extensive author's note is appended, providing background information about the history and customs of the Passover holiday along with a listing of some of the traditional rituals of the Passover Seder. VERDICT Anybody who has ever opened the door for Elijah during the Passover Seder will relish this charming, magical, and heartwarming story.--Rachel Kamin, North Suburban Synagogue Beth El, Highland Park, IL

Every year at the Passover seder, Jews take a moment to open their front doors and symbolically welcome in the prophet Elijah, a bringer of hope and redemption. In this story, the boy charged with opening the door finds not a prophet but a stray white kitten on the doorstep. "Elijah?" asks the boy. "Meow!" replies the adorable feline, who is immediately welcomed into the family. Newman structures the lead-up to this adoption as a series of contrasts and perspective shifts between "Inside"—the warm, happy home where an inclusive, multigenerational group is celebrating—and "Outside," where the kitten wanders and waits before finding its new home. "Inside, the boy waited/ for the Seder to start./ Outside, the kitten waited/ for the moon to rise"; "Inside, the boy broke/ the middle matzo in half./ Outside, the kitten split/ a twig in two." Gal's lushly textured ink and charcoal drawings and close-ups of happy, candlelit faces convey the warmth of holiday togetherness and communal care. Ages 5-8. (Jan.)