THE GREAT PASSOVER ESCAPE

There’s a joke that parents and teachers never get tired of.

Grown-ups think it’s endlessly funny to get simple things wrong, and that’s the one and only joke in this holiday picture book. An elephant and a kangaroo are clueless whether the Passover story they are escaping the zoo to celebrate was about “Ten Planes” or “Ten Plates,” or maybe it was “Ten Plagues,” as a chimp who knows better tells them. They spend the entire book arguing about random elements of the seder meal, which they think might be called a “party.” The long-suffering chimp provides the accurate information with each exchange. Children who aren’t familiar with the Jewish holiday may finish the book more confused than when they started. The animals, however, are beautiful, because they look delightfully unlike real animals. The elephant’s ears are white and purple curlicues shaped like hearts, and the kangaroo is a simple orange curve. The few, fleeting human beings depicted are mostly White and Jewish, although Moses’ skin has a puzzling grayish tone. The arguments about his name may be the most exhausting portion of the story. The animals call him “Morty” and “Milty.” A few pages later, the chimp finally loses all patience and says, “Don’t guess!…I’ll tell you,” and she explains the meaning of Passover foods in some detail. (This book was reviewed digitally with 10.6-by-17.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at 59.4% of actual size.)