The Matzoh Ball Boy Book

On the morning of the Passover seder, a lonely bubbe decides to make a matzo ball boy to keep herself company. Soon delicious smells waft from the bubbling pot, and when she lifts the lid to see if the matzo ball boy is done, out he jumps. "Oy!" she cries. "And where do you think you're going?" "I'm off to see the world, bubbe," replies the matzo ball boy. "Run, run, as fast as you can. You can't catch me. I'm the matzo ball man!" Before long a yenta and her children, a rabbi, and a fox are all on a mad chase to catch the matzo ball boy, ending with his hilarious comeuppance. The familiar tale of the gingerbread man is updated with a twist as savory as a brimming bowl of the bubbe's chicken soup.

Publishers Weekly

"Run, run, as fast as you can./ You can't catch me./ I'm the matzo ball man!" So goes the taunt of the dumpling protagonist in this familiar fairy tale re-imagined with a Jewish spin. Bubbe is all alone on Passover ("could they be bothered to visit their mother?" she complains of her children) so she whips up a Seder companion from matzo meal. Unfortunately for Bubbe, however, the matzo ball boy would rather see the world than be dished up for dinner, and he soon has the villagers giving chase as well as a hungry fox offering to help him make a river crossing. But recognizable plot points aside, the matzo ball boy receives a comeuppance many readers will find deliciously entertaining. "(You were maybe expecting a different ending?)," the last page playfully queries. Schulman (Old MacDonald Had a Woodshop) combines a favorite story with dashes of silliness and broad strokes of Jewish-centric humor to make this an offbeat complement to the holiday library. Litzinger's (Louella May, She's Run Away!) stylized watercolor-and-colored-pencil artwork-comprised mostly of round, bold forms and some cubist-influenced shapes-features a sunny backdrop and scenes of high-octane fun. An author's note includes information about Passover and a glossary defines the Yiddish terms sprinkled throughout the text. Ages 4-up. (Feb.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.