From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR MEET THE MATZAH:
"Wonderfully stupid...genuinely moving."—Kirkus Reviews
"Laugh-out-loud... A fun and silly purchase for holiday collections."—School Library Journal
PRAISE FOR MEET THE LATKES:
"A full-blown kooky comedy unpacking an ancient Talmudic tale."—The New York Times Book Review
"Readers who like their humor broad and goofy will lap this up, and Silberberg...makes it extra tasty with sprawling and genially messy cartooning that looks like it was created by someone hopped up on chocolate gelt."—Publishers Weekly
PRAISE FOR ALAN SILBERBERG'S PREVIOUS BOOKS:
"Silberberg details the daily events with Wimpy Kid-like drawings and quick-witted humor that will keep the pages turning."—School Library Journal
"A read with one goal on its mind: entertainment."—Booklist
School Library Journal
05/28/2021
PreS-Gr 3—A follow-up to Meet the Latkes, this picture book also starts with a character's confusion about a Jewish holiday. Alfie Koman, a student made of matzah, is asked by his teacher, Mrs. Crust, to share the details of Passover with his other anthropomorphic bready classmates. Alfie Koman (a play on the Passover afikomen) is just like his namesake: he likes to hide! Loaf, the class sourdough, seizes this opportunity to begin his own retelling of the story of Passover. In Loaf's tale, Pha-roach is the ruthless ruler, forcing the Hebrews to build him a swimming pool. Mighty Moses, a superhero, proclaims 10 plagues on the Pha-roach palace that includes broccoli for dessert and no Wi-Fi. Alfie will have to be brave enough to speak up and stop Loaf from ruining the retelling of Passover. This Passover story, bent with a secular lens, where "Mighty Moses" or Moses is centered as the redeemer, is a laugh-out-loud comedic book filled with puns that will be adored by fans of David Ezra Stein's Interrupting Chicken and Cece Bell's I Yam a Donkey. VERDICT A fun and silly purchase for holiday collections.—Danielle Winter, Brooklyn P.L., NY
Kirkus Reviews
2021-01-13
A pun is almost always dangerous.
Nearly every name in this picture book populated by breads (both raised and flat) is a play on words. Some of them will make readers feel clever. The main character is Alfie Koman, and his best friend is Challah Looyah, which will amuse anyone who loves Jewish holiday food. Classmates Naan-cy and Cornelius Tortilla provide additional overt ethnic diversity but maybe not many chuckles, and naming a charred piece of bread Burnie Toast is questionable at best. The class bully is called Loaf, which is barely a joke at all. The visual humor is more successful. The talking challah, for example, has braided hair. It seems very apt—whether it’s meant as a joke or not—that Loaf is shaped like the tablets that contain the Ten Commandments. (In the pictures, Moses and most of the Israelites are depicted as human and appear to be White.) Alfie spends most of the book trying to tell the Passover story to his classmates, but Loaf keeps interrupting. This leads to some wonderfully stupid jokes. The ruler of Egypt, Loaf says, is a giant insect named Pha-Roach, and according to him, the 10 plagues include “Birthday Clowns” and “Indoor Recess Forever.” The book turns briefly serious when Alfie finally stands up to the bully (yelling, “LET MY STORY GO!”) and tells “the REAL Passover story.” This leads to an inspiring moral about bravery and friendship, but many readers won’t mind the lesson, because it’s both genuinely moving and a relief from the puns. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.5-by-19-inch double-page spreads viewed at 90.2% of actual size.)
Food puns may not be forgivable, but this book makes a surprisingly strong defense. (glossary) (Picture book. 3-8)
