Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
The Passover Lamb
Illustrator: Tatjana Mai-Wyss
Picture Book
For ages 5 to 7
Random House Books for Young Readers, 2013 ISBN: 978-0307931771
Today is a special day because tonight Miriam and her family will go to her grandparent’s house to celebrate the seder, a special Passover meal. For weeks Miriam has been practicing and memorizing the Four Questions song, a song traditionally sung in Hebrew at the beginning of the seder. Miriam is excited because this will be the first time that she will be singing the song at the seder meal in front of her family.
Miriam is feeding the sheep outside the barn when she realizes that one of the sheep is missing. She finds Snowball in the barn and it is clear that something is wrong with the sheep. Sure enough, later that day Snowball gives birth to three little lambs. She happily takes care of two of the lambs, but she ignores the third and it soon becomes clear that the only way to keep the lamb alive will be to bottle feed it. The problem is that the lamb needs to be fed every four hours, which means that they will not be able to go the Grandma and Grandpa’s house for the seder.
Based on a true story from the author’s life, this tale is charming and has a perfect, and gently amusing, ending.
