Ingenious --Jewish Book Council
A PJ Library Selection for Passover 2023
Cre ative ly imag ined and artis ti cal ly ren dered, this pic ture book tells the sim ple sto ry of a fam i ly of whole, sliced, and seg ment ed fruits and veg eta bles who lives in a very small house con struct ed of matzah.
Kitzel the cat, who nar rates the sto ry, is made entire ly out of an orange. His head and body are each half an orange, while his mouth and feet are orange seg ments. The moth er is a ver i ta ble sal ad of parts: her head is an onion with onion-skin hair; her mouth and body are vivid red pep pers; and her arms and legs are car rots. Two pieces of pars ley serve as eye lash es and eye brows. Oth er fam i ly mem bers are sim i lar ly tasty and amus ing ly named: Avo, the avo ca do broth er; Cele ria, the stalky sis ter who is flex i ble enough for gym nas tics; and a whole pantry full of inno v a tive, crunchy others.
It is almost Pesach. After dis invit ing some chametz friends per son i fied by a bagel, a piece of cake, a roll, a donut, and a chal lah, the fam i ly wor ries whether they will have enough space in their tee ny tiny matzah house to con duct a seder. Fam i ly and friends arrive in a vari ety of edi ble con veyances, includ ing a car rot air plane, a cheese heli copter, and a float ing hot-air water mel on. Some friends join remote ly via a com put er screen framed in cel ery. The seder pro ceeds deli cious ly with tra di tion al, joy ful retellings, songs, and, of course, afikomen-hunt ing. As in the tra di tion al Jew ish folk tale, retold in many ver sions, the pre vi ous ly crowd ed house feels spa cious when the guests have departed.
The sto ry is sim ple, but the art is inge nious. Direc tions for mak ing a cat out of an orange are includ ed - a fun, Passover-friend ly project sure to engage par ents and chil dren who are look ing for an unusu al and inno v a tive kitchen activ i ty to work on together.
--Michal Malen, The Jewish Book Council
Told from the perspective of the house cat Kitzel, Bill and Claire Wurtzel's In Our Teeny Tiny Matzah House is about a family who lives in a crowded teeny tiny matzah house and needs to prepare for Passover and the seder. The illustrations use photographs of ordinary foods (such as oranges, cottage cheese, celery, peppers, cantaloupe, avocado, strawberries, bananas, carrots and more) in extraordinary ways giving rise to expressions on the characters' faces that are simply remarkable. Favorites of this reviewer included the Statue of Liberty with broccoli torch, Souperman with a matzah ball nose, Mat Zahbrei, Cantor Loupe and Flankenella. Back matter includes step-by-step instructions to make Kitzel.
The story mentions many elements of Passover and the seder including ridding the house of bread (watch that donut with wafer hair walk away!), asking the Four Questions, listing the ten plagues, searching for the afikomen, singing Dayeinu, and of course, having guests to celebrate it all with, whether in person or remotely. But in addition to being a fun-to-read book, the magic of the storyline is brought out through the uniqueness of the food art illustrations. As such, readers may enjoy this book long after Passover has ended by trying to replicate the many characters within and coming up with their own original creations. Overall, an excellent addition to bookshelves for children of all ages and faiths that stimulates imagination, creativity and viewing art through an entirely different lens. --Freidele Galya Soban Binaishvili, Sydney Taylor Schmooze