Lesléa Newman’s Sweet Passover Tale About a Boy, a Cat, and Finding a Family

You may know Lesléa Newman best as the author of Heather Has Two Mommies—but she’s also an award-winning author of Jewish children’s books, including a recent one that’s just right for the holiday of Passover, which starts this week!

Welcoming Elijah: A Passover Tale with a Tail, by Lesléa Newman (Charlesbridge), begins with a young boy and his multi-generational and multi-racial extended family gathering for Passover. In gentle, alternating lines, we see the contrast between the warmth and food that the boy is experiencing inside the home and the hunger and loneliness of a stray kitten outside. “Inside, a boy hugged his family. Outside, a kitten sat alone,” we read. “Inside, the boy drank grape juice. Outside, the kitten lapped at a puddle.”

At the end of the Passover meal, after the retelling of the Exodus story and the eating of symbolic foods, the boy opens the door as part of the ritual to welcome the prophet Elijah. To his surprise, the kitten is there to greet him. The boy welcomes his new furry friend and names him Elijah. It’s a perfect tale for the holiday, which asks us Jews to remember our journey as strangers in the wilderness and to welcome strangers in our turn.

Susan Gal’s bold, saturated illustrations, heavy on blues, golds, and browns, beautifully capture the warmth of the family occasion. The many family members, of different ages, shapes, and shades, all interact joyously. One pair of visiting relatives is likely a two-dad couple—one man has his arm around the other as they sit at the table with a child—but the focus is on all of the various relatives mingling together, rather than specific parental structures, and that’s fine. In one image, a woman helps the boy pour a drink; she might be presumed to be his mother, but it’s an open question if the boy has another parent of any gender in the crowd. The story thus leaves room to imagine many different types of families. On top of all that, there’s an adorable fluffy white kitten—really, who can resist?

A helpful Author’s Note gives a short summary of the ancient Passover story and the various traditions surrounding its observance today.

This isn’t Newman’s first Passover-themed book. A Sweet Passover (2012) is about a girl who is thoroughly sick of matzo (the flat, unleavened cracker eaten in lieu of bread during the holiday). Her wise grandfather convinces her to try his matzo brei, or fried matzo—think french toast made with softened matzo—and stirs in some lessons about the meaning of the holiday. Matzo Ball Moon (2006) stars a girl whose Bubbe’s (grandmother’s) matzo ball soup is so good, everyone in the family sneaks a bite before the meal, leaving no matzo balls for Bubbe. The girl must use her creativity to find one for her. And Here Is the World: A Year of Jewish Holidays (2014) takes us on a year-long journey through all the Jewish holidays.

Newman this year received the Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries for helping to “broaden the scope of Jewish children’s books.” Clearly she’s not resting on those laurels.

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