Afikoman, Where'd You Go?: A Passover Hide-And-Seek Adventure

by Rebecca Gardyn Levington (Author) Noa Kelner (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

Help the children find the afikoman during their seder! It's a rambunctious Passover hide-and-seek story for fans of Where's Waldo? and The Gingerbread Man.

This lively, funny picture book brings to life the Passover tradition of searching for the afikoman--literally. When the mischievous piece of matzoh runs and hides during the seder, all the kids in the family (and even the pet dog!) go hunting for it, through every room in the house. Readers can join the hunt and find the sneaky afikoman in each bright and busy scene while enjoying the playful rhyming text. And they're in for a surprise ending that's as delightful as this favorite part of Passover.

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$18.99

Kirkus

The artwork is charming, allowing sharp-eyed readers to outwit the book's characters and locate the afikoman one very page. 

Publishers Weekly

At a large seder attended by people of varying abilities, ages, and skin tones, six kids and a dog are dispatched to look for the afikomen--deemed "a silly, sneaky guy" by the participant-narrator, and depicted by Kelner with simple but mischievous facial features and stick arms and legs. Pencil, ink, and digital art, lavish with domestic details, shows the seekers moving through the house and backyard, leaving no cushion unturned, no drawer unopened, and, in the dog's case, no roll of toilet paper unrolled. "We investigate my bedroom/ and inspect my soccer gear," Gardyn Levington writes in rhyming lines. "Then we rummage through the laundry./ (We might be here till next year!)" As the characters wonder repeatedly, "Afikomen? Afikomen? Afikomen? WHERE'D YOU GO?" readers can hunt, too: the elusive entity turns up in every picture, peering from a different hiding place, in this lively tale of seek-and-find. Includes a glossary. Ages 4-8. (Feb.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

With rhythm and repetition, this book has the makings of a storytime hit. The artwork is charming, allowing sharp-eyed readers to outwit the book's characters and locate the afikoman one very page. —Kirkus Review
Rebecca Gardyn Levington
Rebecca Gardyn Levington is a Jewish children's book author, poet, and journalist. She has a master's degree in magazine journalism from NYU and a bachelor's degree in communication studies from UCLA. This is her third published picture book, and her poetry and articles have appeared in various anthologies, newspapers, and magazines. She lives in the suburbs of New Jersey with her husband and two boisterous boys.

Noa Kelner is a freelance illustrator living and working in Jerusalem. She graduated from the Department of Visual Communication at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and now works with Israeli newspapers, magazines, publishers, and design firms. She has illustrated several picture books and is the co-founder and artistic director of an art festival in Jerusalem that showcases hundreds of illustrators every year.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593617786
Lexile Measure
450
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Rocky Pond Books
Publication date
February 20, 2024
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV033020 - Juvenile Fiction | Religious | Jewish
JUV017120 - Juvenile Fiction | Holidays & Celebrations | Passover
JUV020000 - Juvenile Fiction | Interactive Adventures
Library of Congress categories
Stories in rhyme
Passover
Picture puzzles
Matzos

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