There are many categories of diverse books. One that we often forget about is religion. Children of every faith deserve to see themselves reflected in the stories they read at home, at school, and in their local libraries. My family is Christian, and I’m a United Methodist clergyperson. But it’s really important to me that my family learn about other religions, their beliefs, and their traditions, especially ones practiced by our neighbors. In this post, I share children’s books about Passover (both picture books and chapter books), the holiday’s meaning, and how it is observed.
Disclosure: For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links. If you make purchases through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I received a review copy of The Passover Guest from the publisher. All opinions are my own. You can read my full disclosure policy here.
Children’s Books about Passover: Picture books
Passover Family by Monique Polak
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This sweet board book tells babies about all the fun they’ll have with family at the Passover seder. The photographs focus on the faces of toddlers, cousins, grandparents and more, which is perfect for the target age group. My favorite part of the text is “Daddy tells the best stories. One’s about a baby like you, who grew up strong and brave.” (Recommended for ages 0 – 3)
Matzah Day! by Charlotte Offsay. Illustrated by Jason Kirschner.
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With playful rhyming text, a family of five joyfully makes matzah for Pesach. There are so many ways to enough the special crunchy bread, from baking matzah pizza to creating treats like matzah with chocolate and toffee. After the story, there are educational notes about matzah, why it is eaten during Pesach/Passover, and recipes. (Recommended for ages 2 – 6.)
More Than Enough: A Passover Story by April Halprin Wayland and Katie Kath
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One of the Passover traditions that many children love is singing the song of thankfulness “Dayenu.” (My 6 year old learned it in Montessori school a couple of years ago and he still breaks out the chorus often!) This book illustrates just what it means to be thankful that God has provided more than enough. As a family goes through the preparations for Passover by shopping, walking in the rain, and making the food for the seder, they say dayenu. (Recommended for ages 3 – 7)
Want to learn the Dayenu song? Watch this video!
Matzah Man to the Rescue! by Eric A. Kimmel. Illustrated by Charlie Fowkes.
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Preparing for the Passover seder is a lot of work, and things often go wrong. A cat steals the shank bone off the seder plate. A granddaughter and grandfather both think the other is making the charoset, so there is none. Mice eat another family’s matzah. Fortunately, Matzah Man is prepared to fly all around the world with his special Passover pack to save the day. But when Matzah Man himself needs help to make it home in time for his own seder, what can he do? (Recommended for ages 4 – 8.)
The Mysterious Missing Matzah by Alan Katz. Illustrated by Adam Auerbach.
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Several of the books about Passover I’ve recommended revolve around not being able to find the hidden afikomen (a portion of the matzah that children traditionally search for.) Sometimes it’s missing because an older child has hidden it and forgotten the hiding place. But in The Mysterious Missing Matzah, it’s Grandpa who’s made the mistake. He was deep in thought about where the best hiding place for the afikomen would be when someone mentioned his favorite dish: matzah ball soup.
The children have searched everywhere, and Grandpa can’t give them any hints since he doesn’t remember what he did with it. How will they end their seder meal? (Recommended for ages 4 – 8.)
The Passover Guest by Susan Kusel and Sean Rubin
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Based on the classic children’s book The Magician, this retelling of a Passover miracle takes place in Washington, DC during the Great Depression. Young Muriel wanders through famous sites in the capital. She’s in no hurry to get home, despite the approaching holiday, because her family can’t afford a seder this year.
When a colorful, tattered, mysterious man catches her eye at the Lincoln Memorial, she gives him her last penny. He urges her to hurry home for the seder, despite her protests that her family has no food or wine (not even to fill Elijah’s cup.) Soon after she arrives home, the man arrives there too, and an incredible feast appears. Is it alright to eat this meal, and who has provided it? Muriel turns to her rabbi for clues.
The illustrations by graphic novelist Sean Rubin almost vibrate with the energy of the characters. I highly recommend this imaginative, hopeful tale. (Recommended for ages 4 – 8).
The Little Red Hen and the Passover Matzah by Leslie Kimmelman and Paul Meisel
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“Oy gevalt!” the Little Red Hen exclaims when she looks at her calendar. It’s time to start her Passover preparations! As she plants, harvests, and mills the grain, her lazy friends Sheep and Horse, and her rude friend Dog refuse to lend a hand. She does everything herself, including quickly making the matzah in 18 minutes, as Jewish law requires.
When everything is ready for the seder, her friends who’ve done nothing have the chuptzpah to show up at her door. When she asks why they should be allowed to join in, the Little Red Hen answers her own question. She remembers that the Passover Haggadah says to “let all who are hungry come and eat.” (But she’s no pushover. She will not be doing the dishes!) (Recommended for ages 4 – 8)
Related post: 15 picture books starring Jewish characters
Passover Scavenger Hunt by Shanna Silva and Miki Sakamoto
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Many children’s favorite part of the Passover seder is finding the afikomen (a portion of the matzo that is hidden by the head of the family.) Rachel thinks that Great-Uncle Harry always makes the afikomen way to easy to find, so this year, she’s going to hide it.
Rachel takes the hunt to a whole new level, providing rhyming scavenger hunt clues that tell the meaning of different foods that will be eaten during the seder. I love how the story playfully teaches kids about the deeper significance of the seder foods. (Recommended for ages 4 – 8)
Shop the entire list of children’s books about Passover on Bookshop.org. (Supports independent bookstores and my business!)
Everybody’s Book: The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah by Linda Leopold Strauss. Illustrated by Tim Smart.
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This is the story of a truly remarkable centuries-old haggadah that travelled across many countries, enduring an Inquisition, various wars, and disasters. A haggadah is a book used by a family to tell the story of Passover at their seder.
This haggadah was a wedding gift for a Jewish couple in Spain in the 14th century. When Spain ordered all Jews to convert to Christianity or leave the country in the late 15th century, the family took their haggadah as they fled persecution. Eventually the haggadah arrived with the family in Bosnia. Eventually the family had to sell the haggadah to a museum to make ends meet. As various wars fueled by religious and ethnic hatred took place over the years, Jews, Muslims, and Christians joined together to protect the special book. (Recommended for ages 6 – 10.
Never struggle to find the right diverse or social justice book again with my Anti-Bias Children’s Book Database!
The Story of Passover by David A. Adler and Jill Weber
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This book is a straightforward retelling of the Exodus story, accompanied by striking illustrations. Although the book is not terribly long, Adler manages to cover everything from how the Israelites first became enslaved in Egypt, to the birth of Moses, through the ten plagues and the journey through the Red Sea. There’s also a page of notes after the Biblical story which explains the symbolism of the foods eaten at a seder. (Recommended for ages 6 – 10)
Children’s Books about Passover: Chapter books
The Secret of the Scent Map by Elana Rubinstein. Illustrated by Jennifer Naalchigar.
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This intermediate reader chapter book about Passover features the conscientious Saralee, who’s doing everything she can to help her family’s restaurant get their holiday orders ready. When her Aunt Lotte, who never seems to do anything helpful, eats a bunch of desserts Saralee has carefully prepared, Saralee’s anger boils over.
Aunt Lotte disappears soon after Saralee’s hurtful words, so Saralee must use her gift of “over-smell” to find Lotte. This is a lovely story not only for celebrating Passover, but also for cautioning kids about habits that can lead to emotional and mental burnout. (Recommended for ages 7 – 9.)
On All Other Nights: A Passover Celebration in 14 Stories. Edited by Chris Baron, Joshua S. Levy, and Naomi Milliner.
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These 14 stories about Passover are quite diverse. Each is written by a different author (including two of my favorites: Ruth Behar and Adam Gidwitz). Some take place in the past and some in the present. Some are family stories handed down, while others detail children’s hopes and struggles around this sacred ritual. Many are realistic stories, while some have an element of fantasy.
Each story is connected to one of the 14 steps of the seder and is introduced with 4 questions, which mirrors the larger 4 questions that are asked during the seder. I thoroughly enjoyed each story, as well as the opportunity to learn more about the details of the seder and what each step means. (Recommended for ages 8 – 12.)
One Little Goat: A Passover Catastrophe by Dara Horn and Theo Ellsworth.
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This laugh-out-loud funny graphic novel takes kids’ experiences of finding the seder long and boring to a ridiculous level. When the children of a large, messy family all join in hiding the afikoman too well, the seder cannot end. If you can believe it, the seder has now lasted for six months.
When there’s a knock on the door, the protagonist hopes it’s the prophet Elijah. Instead, it’s a talking goat, who the boy quickly scapegoats for the never-ending seder. The goat informs him that they’ll have to travel through time and across the world to find the family’s missing afikoman to have any hope of ending the seder. Along the way they visit countless seders, learning more about the history of his family and his people. (Recommended for ages 10+.)
Passover: Festival of Freedom by Monique Polak
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The non-fiction book is perfect for older children and for adults who want to understand more about the roots of Passover and how it has been celebrated over time. The author is Jewish but was not raised to be observant. This was partly because her mother was imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp, lessening her already waning interest in religion even more.
Portions of the book could be read to children ages 8 and up, such as the chapters that explain how Passover is observed in different countries, the meaning of the Passover foods, and stories about how children offer tzedakah (sharing and doing good) during Passover. Other sections are best for children ages 12+, particularly the interviews the author did with Holocaust survivors about their memories of seders before and after that tragedy.
Related Post:14 books that help children and teens understand antisemitism
A Word about Christians and Seder Meals
There’s a growing trend among Christians to celebrate a version of the Passover seder that substitutes Christian symbols for the original symbols of the Exodus story.
While some Christians say they do this out of a desire to honor the Jewish roots of our faith, I’m uncomfortable with it and consider it a type of cultural appropriation. (It’s a very different thing to be invited by a Jewish family to attend their seder, and I encourage you to say yes to that invitation if you receive it!)
If you are a Christian and want to experience a Passover seder, writer Sarabeth Caplin (who converted to Christianity from Judaism) offers suggestions in this article. For example, ask your church to reach out to a local synagogue to see if leaders there would be open to leading an interfaith seder meal for members of the two congregations.
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One response to “Children’s Books about Passover”
RAQUELA’S SEDER recently received a Starred Review from the School Library Journal. Perhaps it could be another addition to the Passover list of outstanding books.