The Story of Passover

The biblical story of Passover is related in this engaging picture-book from author David A. Adler and illustrator Jill Weber. Beginning with Jacob and his family, and how they settled in Egypt, the narrative describes how the Israelites, or Hebrews, were enslaved. The story of Moses in the bullrushes, and of Moses and the burning bush, are covered, as are the ten plagues that God visited upon the Egyptians, to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. Amongst them was the killing of firstborn sons, in which God passed over and spared the Israelites. The story concludes with the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea, and the final page of the book described the Passover Seder, and the symbolic dishes served at it...

I was familiar with show more David Adler when I picked up this book, having grown up with his Cam Jansen mystery series for beginning chapter-book readers; and I was also familiar with Jill Weber, who illustrated one of this year's (2019) new Passover picture-books, Pippa's Passover Plate. As a result, I was quite interested to read The Story of Passover. All in all, I found it an engaging tale, and although all of the individual incidents were familiar to me, from my Sunday School Bible readings as a girl, I don't think I'd ever read a non-Bible story in which they were all strung together as one narrative. However that may be, this is an excellent picture-book to introduce children to the entire Passover story, as contained in the Bible. The narrative is exciting, and the artwork colorful. Recommended to anyone looking for books to use in explaining what Passover is all about to young children. show less

The Story of Passover is about the celebration of Jewish slavery ending because of their savior Moses. The story begins more than three thousand years ago in Egypt. The ruler of Egypt believed that the Children of Israel were outsiders and decided to rebel against them and make them become slaves. The ruler of Egypt was told that one day a Hebrew boy would be born to rebel against the pharaoh. Because of this, the Wise Men of Egypt were told by the ruler of Egypt to exile all of the newborn Hebrew boys must be thrown into the river and drowned. Luckily, one of the boys was saved, he was sent away and found by the princess, she decided to name him Moses and raise him as her own. As Moses got older he realized that he was not an Egyptian show more and attacked and killed some of the Egyptian men. He ran away an had a family of his own. One day God spoke to Moses through a burning bush and told him to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt. Moses warned the pharaoh, but he did not listen. Since the pharaoh did not listen Egypt was part of ten terrible plagues. The pharaoh finally decided to let the Children of Israel go. The next day the pharaoh changed his mind and decided to attack the Children of Israel with their army. God spoke to Moses and parted the sea. The Children of Israel escaped and were finally free of slavery. I really enjoyed this book. I did not know anything about Passover before I read this story and I thought it was extremely interesting to learn something about a religion I do not practice. The book was easy to follow and a great read. I would highly recommend this book. show less

What is Passover?

Join the author as he tells us what Passover is. He explains that the Children of Israel lived in Egypt as slaves. One of their people, Moses, on instruction from God, wanted to take the people out of Egypt. But when he went to Pharoah, the ruler of Egypt, to ask for the people to go, he said, "no."

Because of that, God made bad things happen in Egypt. Right before the tenth thing, Pharaoh said they could go. That is because he did not want the last bad thing to happen. The Children of Israel left right away, but then Pharaoh changed his mind. He and his soldiers chased after them to bring them back.

Pharaoh thought that he had them trapped by the Red Sea. But God had Moses hold up his stick over the sea and the waters show more parted and all the Children of Israel walked through dry land to the other side.

Pharaoh and his soldiers started to chase them, but God had the waters fall down on all of them, and the Children of Israel were free. That event is known as the Passover.

Every year, the Jewish people have a special Passover dinner to remember and celebrate their freedom from slavery. The dinner is called a Seder and everyone eats the same thing, and every item eaten symbolizes something about Passover. The celebration lasts eight days.

Even though this book is written on a child's level, I learned a lot reading this, too. The very last page goes into great detail about the food and celebration that take place.

Children will enjoy all the colorful illustrations and hearing about all the different plagues that took place, and how the people got free. Ages four through ten-years-old will enjoy this.

Thanks to Candlewick Press for providing Tickmenot with a book to review. Opinions are my own. show less

This book tells the religious story about how Passover came to be a holiday celebrated by Jewish people in honor of their freedom from slavery. The book develops the main character, Moses, from birth through adulthood in a way that children can understand with concise language and brightly colored pictures. The pictures demonstrate the story of Moses approaching Pharaoh to negotiate the release of God's people, and then visually represent the plagues that were brought upon Egypt when Pharaoh refused. The plot begins when Moses was just a baby and was placed in a basket to avoid being killed by Pharaoh, who was afraid of a Jewish boy that would grow up to overthrow him. Children can easily follow the sequence of events and are excited show more when the plot reaches the crucial point where the Jews cross The Red Sea, waiting to see how or if they escape. The plot is also well-paced, as it allows the reader to understand what's happening before moving on to the next event that shapes Moses' life. Each element of the book works together to create an exciting and appealing book for children.
Media: acrylc paint
Genre: Picture book, Folklore; Religious story (the book is adapted from The Old Testament tale about Moses and his life, eventually becoming the person who helped free God's people from captivity by the Egyptians. "The story of Passover begins more than three thousand years ago when Jacob and his family settled in Egypt." show less

I enjoyed this book. Even though it’s a children’s book, I really learned a lot. The book was short and to the point but it still provided a lot of information about Passover. I really enjoyed the illustrations. They were very bright and detailed. Even if you just looked at the pictures, they were so detailed that you can understand most of what the story is about. The message of this book is to inform readers about the history of Passover, and to explain why it’s celebrated.

The Story of Passover recounts the major events of the story in dramatic but accessible language, from Jacob settling in Egypt to the miraculous parting of the Red Sea.