Customer Reviews

The Mouse in the Matzah Factory

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Very acurately describes the process of making handmade shmurah (watched/guarded) matzah, from the the time of growing the wheat to baking the matzah. A curious little mouse follows the entire process. We love the black ink illustrations by David Goldstein, however this edition is out of print There is a new version available with new full color art, but I have not seen it yet.

Once upon a time lived a mouse who lived in a wheat field in the country. One day men came and built a fence around the field and watched over the growing wheat. They watered the field, weeded it and waited for the wheat to ripen. The mouse wondered what was so special about this particular wheat.

At last the men harvested the ripened wheat, bundled it and loaded it onto a wagon. They worked carefully to keep it dry.

The mouse, curious as a cat, decided to find out what was going on. So he jumped on the wagon and rode to the mill, where he found a hole in the door from which he could watch as huge grinding wheels crushed the harvest into fine flour, and poured it into new sacks and loaded them onto another truck.

Hidden in the sacks, he rode for a long time aboard the truck to the city, crowded with people, cars and trucks. Here the truck stopped at a place called Goldstein's Matzah Factory, where an inspector checked to see that every sack was completely dry.

From a window ledge, he watched as factory workers inside unloaded the sacks, brought in buckets of water and mixed the water and flour and rolled it out into flat sheets punched full of holes.

I can't tell you what happened on the last eight pages of this 34-page book. But kids will learn from this cute book how matzah is made, and what exactly makes it kosher for Pessach.

As an added plus, they will enjoy the fine pen and ink art. The book's cover resembles a sheet of egg matzah. And inside are fetching illustrations, reminiscent of the evocative drawings in Homer Price. Alyssa A. Lappen

A story about a mouse going on an adventure is always a hit with the 2 year olds in my class, but the message in this one is a bit over their heads. Don't expect a small child to understand how the wheat is watched for Passover Matzah, but do expect them to enjoy this book. There aren't many books for very young children to enjoy that teach the Passover story well, so I would still reccomend getting this book. I know that Pre-K kids do very well with this book. Just be mindful of the age group you're buying this for.