Evelyn Zusman

I really enjoy this book. This was a book that I used to read around passover time with my family. It is a good realistic fiction book around the holiday while providing an interesting plot for readers. The story had an obvious conflict around the parrot when he escaped. The illustrations carefully retold the story and were very colorful for young readers to become very interested in. The writing flowed very well and also had a few words that were hebrew. The characters were well developed and readers could identify with more than one child introduced in the book. The message of the story was to not give up when things got tough. The little girl did not give when learning the four questions in hebrew and she did not give up finding the afikomen from the parrot.… (mehr)

Collections
Picture book
Grade: 1-4
Contemporary realistic fiction
The Passover Parrot is an adorable story that combines the love for pets, religion, and family. In the story a little girl ( 1 of 7) is given a pet parrot by a neighbor who is moving away. The little girl uses the parrot to help teach herself "the four questions in hebrew" for Passover. The Parrot is the only one who has time to listen to her. I really enjoyed this aspect of the story. I feel like this is a common yet exceptional example of the connection people feel with their pets. They are never mad at you, and always willing to listen. The parrot also ends up learning the four Hebrew questions as he repeats the little girl every time she practices. The girl finally gets a chance to recite them at a big family dinner but the parrot causes a little ruckus before she is finished. With the help of her family problems are resolved and she gets to go on reciting and does perfectly. This makes her father extremely proud. Another element that I really liked about this book was the incorporation of religion. If you are not Jewish than you may not be familiar with events that occur during Passover. I know that I was unfamiliar with "the four questions". This book helped me to learn a little bit more about Jewish culture. I also really enjoyed the illustrations in this book. Especially on page five. The look on the mother's face when her daughter received a pet parrot is priceless. I also like the facial expressions of the children when they are trying to get the parrot to come out of the tree. It allows you to see how hard they are trying to get their pet down.… (mehr)