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Strauss, Linda Leopold

Everybody's Book: The Story of the Sarajevo Haggadah

32 pp. | Kar-Ben | January, 2024 | Trade ISBN 9781728486468 $18.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Tim Smart. This book opens at a suspenseful point in its subject's story: "Even with war raging around them [in 1995], the people of Sarajevo were worrying about a book." The text then flashes back and gives the history of a hand-painted, hand-lettered Haggadah (guide for the Passover seder) given as a wedding gift in Spain around 1350 and passed from generation to generation and place to place. It survived the Spanish Inquisition...and scribbles and wine spills...before being sold to the National Museum in Sarajevo in 1894. Strauss spotlights the ways the rare Haggadah became "everybody's treasure"; e.g., a Muslim curator and a Catholic museum director each had a hand in protecting it from the Nazis. Her accessible text clearly explains key moments in the book's sweeping history. Smart's illustrations portray these moments with varied compositions and perspectives, keeping pages turning. In addition to depictions of the Haggadah itself, occasional borders nod at its intricate design. Source notes or other more extensive back matter (beyond the brief author's note) would have enhanced this title, but it serves as an engaging introduction to a volume with a remarkable history.
Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2024

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