Although it took
me a number of drafts to realize it, I had two main goals in writing Happy
Passover, Edie Rose! One was to reflect my love of Passover, both as a
child as well as an adult. Our seders were huge events, with family and friends
filling our table (sometimes two tables), white table cloths with faded wine
stains from seders past, and Haggadahs that often had matzo crumbs inside the
pages from the previous year. I see my childhood self in Mia, who adores
celebrating Passover—reciting the ten plagues and hunting for the Afikomen—but
also longs for adventure even as she wonders if she can ever be like her
neighbor Edie Rose. Edie is intrepid and fearless and utterly competent at
everything from global travel to hosting the absolute best seders in the
building! I also see myself in Edie Rose, cooking, making lists, and gathering
friends and neighbors together each year. Like Mia, I grew up in the city, and
our seders were either at our apartment or around the corner in my aunt and
uncle’s apartment on the 7th floor of a high rise along Lake
Michigan in Chicago. I gave Edie their apartment number, 701.
My other main goal
for Mia and Edie’s story was to reflect one of my favorite lines in the Reform
Shabbat prayer book, the one that refers to the Israelites crossing the Red
Sea. The only way from here to there, it says, is to join
hands and march together. That need for each other, that communal journey
as Jews, the reminder that on Passover, we are to imagine that the Exodus is
happening to us, now, that we are there marching, there wandering through the
desert, there later at Mt. Sinai, has always spoken to me. So it’s no surprise
that it found its way into my Passover picture book. Edie tells Mia all this, and Mia takes it
very much to heart. When Edie falls and can’t complete the seder making and
hosting like always, Mia gathers everyone in the building to make seder for
Edie and for themselves. Mia has worried that her “boots are only medium worn”
unlike Edie’s because Edie has traveled the world. But adventures can happen
close to home, too. And the seder the ensues is even more special because of
the community that pulls it together.
Plus, there’s an adorable scamp of a dog named Mo, and some very delicious macaroons. What more can you want from a Passover picture book?
