Afikotective by Amalia Hoffman; Minneapolis: Kar-Ben Publishing; © 2024; ISBN 9781728-475363; 30 pages, $18.99
SAN DIEGO – This story book was published in plenty of time to purchase and read before the Passover holiday to the children ages 2 to 7 in your families. It focuses on the ceremonial foods of Pesach, most particularly that piece of matzah that is utilized as an afikomen.
A young bear, who is an inventor, puts a “sniffer” onto the trunk of an elephant push toy in an effort to be the first to find the afikomen. He goes to the kitchen counter, the refrigerator, and the pantry where the elephant sniffer finds stores of the various foods that go on the seder plate, but not matzah. Concluding that there must be something wrong with the sniffer, he reaches up to a high shelf to get his toolbox. Grandma had hidden the afikomen inside!
Besides writing the story, Hoffman illustrated it. Thre are little touches in her illustrations that will make adults smile. At the seder table, mother holds two babies in her lap, which makes one wonder if she will be able to get a bite of food for herself; inked paw prints instead of handprints are displayed on a bulletin board; a child’s drawing of pharaoh and Moses is on the door of the refrigerator; a bottle of gefilte fish is inside the refrigerator; and children’s drawings of frogs (one of the 10 plagues) and matzah decorate the walls.
*
Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted via donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com