978-1-954354-32-6
Hardcover
32pp, color
8in x 8in
Juvenile Fiction: Holidays & Celebrations
5-10
January 2025
$19.99
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"A sulking child brightens when Great-Uncle Ezra arrives for family seder and shares the story of his first Passover in America. Drawing on family history, per an author’s note, Moss crafts an anecdotal narrative paired with spare pen and ink sketches. Nine-year-old Ezra flees Russia’s pogroms alone, only to face deportation when his brother fails to meet him at Ellis Island, where small comforts include kindly kitchen staff. On the eve of being sent back, Ezra organizes a makeshift Passover Seder, realizing that he and his fellow Jewish refugees are “living the story of our own exodus, from the old world to the new, from oppression to freedom.” “Next year in America!” Ezra shouts at meal’s end, and the following day brings a small miracle of its own. The book is as much about the importance of family stories as it is about Passover, underscoring how personal narratives can deepen and sustain heritage. Most characters are portrayed with pale skin."
– Publishers Weekly
Ellis Island Passover
By Marissa Moss
Marissa Moss shares a story from her own childhood in this Passover gem.
Miriam feels disconnected from the Passover celebration until Uncle Ezra shares the story of his first seder in America with her. Uncle Ezra gives her a broader, more personal sense of the meaning of Passover and the importance of sharing family
stories.
"In this story based on real events, readers journey with Great-Uncle Ezra from Russia to Ellis Island and learn how he and other Jews celebrated their first Passover in America. At the tender age of nine, the narrator’s Great-Uncle Ezra is sent alone across Europe with little more than a spare shirt, food, prayer book, and money for his boat ticket. Ezra made this journey because of the angry anti-Semitic mobs in Russia; his family heard that one could be Jewish in America without facing consequences. Once the boat docked at Ellis Island, Ezra expected his brother to meet him, but instead he ended up waiting a week while officials searched for Mendel. It was during this week that the first day of Passover fell, and Ezra was instrumental in securing the food needed to celebrate. The text is straightforward, with words up to three syllables, as well as Hebrew words throughout. For readers familiar with Moss’s “Amelia’s Notebook” series, the artwork will be nostalgic. An author’s note concludes the work by sharing the horrific violence Moss’s family faced in Russia. VERDICT Recommended. This is a part of history that needs to be shared".
– School Library Journal
