The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Matzah Ball Chase by Rachelle Burk, illustrated by Brittany Lakin Apples & Honey Press (imprint of Behrman House Publishers), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Chava Pinchuck Buy at Bookshop.org There is, of course, “On Top of Spaghetti.” Then there’s The Matzah Man by Naomi Howland (Clarion Books, 2002), The Matzo Ball Boy by Lisa Shulman (Puffin Books, 2007), and The Ball of Clay that Rolled Away by Elizabeth Lenhard (Two Lions, 2012). This latest tale of silliness and runaway Jewish food has a different spin. The rhyming couplets describe the pursuit of Savta’s matzah ball through Israel, from the amazing Baha’i Gardens in Haifa, to Tel Aviv, Jerusalem (the City of Gold), then to the Judean Desert, the Dead Sea, and Masada. The matzah ball finally ends up in Eilat, the southernmost city in Israel, and playful dolphins take it out in the Red Sea. The moral of the story – make matza squares instead of balls! The use of “savta” as grandmother will alert the reader that the