illustrator: Emily Arnold McCullyPublished: 2005
Rating: 4
REad: Jan. 25, 2009
Endpapers: Rust
A young nameless Jewish boy must pretend to be Catholic in order to hide - he lives in France during the time of Hitler. It is spring, the time of Passover, but Jews cannot safely celebrate. Marching black boots are everywhere. One night the boy's father takes him out of the village and up the mountainside to a dark cabin where a small graoup of men are daring enough to celebrate the Passover Seder. They whisper. They have no food and only one piece of matzo. But they share the ritual of the seder and the young boy, for the first time, participates in the Hebrew his mother has been secretly teaching him.
Powerful story. Beautiful - though dark - illustrations. Another piece in a sad, sad story that must continue to be told.
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