Passover Books for Children

It's Passover time of year and a great way to get your kids into the spirit is with these fun stories about Passover. The books are geared towards grade school kids, but in my opinion they are fun for everyone. What I like most about these books is their originality and wonderful vivid illustrations or in the case of the last book below, it's photographs.

My all time favorite kids Passover book is The Matzah Man: A Passover Story, by Naomi Howland. The title makes it obvious this is a take on the Gingerbread Man but it's still original and genuinely funny. The illustrations are the major part of the book, and the little Matzah man is so cute. I read this to my kids over and over around Passover time and we all crack up, it's just so ridiculously funny. My daughter is 11 and she still loves The Matzah Man. This book is also good for a beginner reader ages 4-8.

Only Nine Chairs: A Tall Tale for Passover by Debra Uchill Miller is another funny Passover book. Reading level is 4-8 but enjoyability level is for everyone. This is a hilarious story written as a poem about a family seder with too many people and too few chairs. The colorful illustrations are bright, funny and cute. The story is original and entertaining.

Only Nine Chairs and The Matzah Man don't teach that much about Passover, just enough to be fun. If you want your young child to have a more educational book about the cultural and religious aspects of Passover, there is a great book called Mah Nishtanah?: A Passover Haggadah for Children, edited by Shaul Meizlish. This is a Hebrew/English Haggadah for young kids with photos of children acting out various parts of the seder and rituals. If your child can read Hebrew this book is great but if not I would buy it just for the excellent photos and the English translations.

If you are a teacher of young children, your class will love for you to read The Matzah Man or Only Nine Chairs to them. Kids love a good laugh and that's what they'll get with these books. Compare The Matzah Man with The Gingerbread Man and let the kids point out the similarities and differences. Ma Nishntanah is a good educational tool for introducing the children to the rituals and prayers of the Holiday while also showing them the way others celebrate Passover.

All three books have been my family's favorite Passover books of all time. They are all hardcover and available at Amazon and your local Jewish book store.