MATZAH BELOWSTAIRS is out!
My newest picture book is out!
It is a happy, light-hearted story about a mouse family that needs matzah for Passover. They live under the floorboards beneath the apartment where the human Winklers live. And luckily the Winklers are a very messy family! Usually they can be counted on to leave bits of food around. But this year they have started keeping their matzah in a tin. How can Miriam Mouse bring home any matzah for her family’s Passover celebration?
Will children who don’t celebrate Passover understand the book? I think they will. I deliberately wrote it so that words like “matzah” and “seder” make sense in context. There’s also an author’s note in the back giving a very brief explanation of Passover.
So the book should work well for you if you are a parent or teacher wanting to fill your book shelves with books celebrating the holidays of many different cultures.
It is always an exciting moment when my box of author copies of a book arrives! Here it is, just opened, on my table!
It is thrilling for me as an author to see how an illustrator, in this case, the talented Mette Engell, has visualized the story. I especially love the way she divides the page so that children can see the humans above the floorboards and the mice below at the same time. It’s pretty irresistible!
It happens to be snowing here in Massachusetts as I write this. But spring is coming! Happy spring and happy spring holidays from me, the messy Winklers, and the Mouse family!
