K-Gr 3— This cheerful Passover picture book is Where's Waldo? meets The Gingerbread Man. With loved ones gathered around the table, it's time for the children to carry out the tradition of searching for the piece of matzah called the afikoman. But there's a problem! He's a sneaky little guy, and he has run away from the children! Kelner's busy illustrations will keep kids happily engaged, searching for the afikoman on every spread. Children will find Levington's singsong, rhyming text delightful: "Is he hiding somewhere high? Is he hiding somewhere low? Afikoman? Afikoman? Afikoman? WHERE'D YOU GO?" The storyline is simple but effective. The children search diligently for the afikoman, the afikoman continues to escape them and hide, the children find the afikoman. At the end, one character eats all the afikoman without sharing, which provides a talking point for parents in addition to all the fun. Characters' skin tones are diverse, and a person who uses a wheelchair is included in the illustrations. A glossary helps with Hebrew words. VERDICT This fun book could become a Passover classic. A first purchase.— Jennifer Sontag

At a large seder attended by people of varying abilities, ages, and skin tones, six kids and a dog are dispatched to look for the afikomen—deemed “a silly, sneaky guy” by the participant-narrator, and depicted by Kelner with simple but mischievous facial features and stick arms and legs. Pencil, ink, and digital art, lavish with domestic details, shows the seekers moving through the house and backyard, leaving no cushion unturned, no drawer unopened, and, in the dog’s case, no roll of toilet paper unrolled. “We investigate my bedroom/ and inspect my soccer gear,” Gardyn Levington writes in rhyming lines. “Then we rummage through the laundry./ (We might be here till next year!)” As the characters wonder repeatedly, “Afikomen? Afikomen? Afikomen? WHERE’D YOU GO?” readers can hunt, too: the elusive entity turns up in every picture, peering from a different hiding place, in this lively tale of seek-and-find. Includes a glossary. Ages 4–8. (Feb.)