Matilda Makes Matzah Balls

Rhonda Cohen makes her picture book debut with Matilda Makes Matzah Balls.  She was previously a magazine editor in New York City and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, specializing in Family and Children. Now a stay-at-home mom and homeschool teacher, Rhonda lives with her husband, three girls, and one dog in the San Francisco Bay Area.Born in Milan, Francesca Galmozzi is a freelance creative specializing in advertising and publishing. She collaborates withleading Italian and foreign publishers of children's books. She was a boardmember of the Italian Illustrators Association for several years and is now amember of the association.  She has been a professor of illustration atthe European Institute of Design (IED). She lives in Italy.

A Jewish child and her grandmother make chicken soup withmatzah balls, a dish that’s essential to Jewish cuisine, especially for holidaymeals. This Passover, Matilda will help Bubbe make the traditionalsoup for the first time. Bubbe supplies an apron, and they hum as they mix theingredients. Matilda has lots of great ideas to jazz up the recipe, and Bubbeis agreeable and encouraging. Sure, Matilda can add lemon and extra dill to thematzah ball mix. Then they put the mixture in the refrigerator to chill.Matilda has another very big idea. What if they make one giant matzah ballinstead of the normal small, round, moon-shaped balls? Bubbe is a bitskeptical, wondering if it will float, but as always, she’s ready to giveMatilda free rein. Of course, the heavyweight matzah ball immediately sinks tothe bottom of the pot. Bubbe soothes Matilda’s disappointment, reminding herthat she can try again. The child’s enthusiasm and her grandmother’sunconditional love and acceptance shine through in this tale of culinarytraditions. Gray-haired Bubbe and brown-haired, pigtailed Matilda (both arelight-skinned) are wonderfully exuberant in Galmozzi’s bright, action-packed,detailed cartoons. Watch for the all-important box of matzah meal that appearsprominently throughout the proceedings. Whether or not readers are familiarwith matzah ball soup, they will connect with this family’s loving preparationof traditional foods. (This book was reviewed digitally.) Tender, warmhearted, and delightful.(recipe for matzah ballsoup) (Picture book. 4-7) --Kirkus ReviewsBubbe has asked her granddaughter Matilda, both portrayedwith light skin, to help make the prized "fluffy, floating, round-as-the-moonmatzah balls" for the Passover seder—"the start of a new Passover familytradition," Cohen writes. With buoyant cartoons by Galmozzi that alternatebetween scenes of the two cooking and close-up framings of their culinaryhandiwork, Matilda enthusiastically proffers her ideas for improving therecipe—making one giant matzo ball and lots of little ones in the shapes of stars,and creating pink soup by adding beet juice. To Bubbe’s great credit, she’snever doctrinaire or naysaying, though she occasionally looks bemused. "It’sall right, bubbalah," she tells Matilda when the giant matzo ball sinks. "Thenice thing about experimenting is you can always try again." A slight, sweettribute to the joys of intergenerational, open-minded home cooking. Ages4–7. (Mar.) --Publishers Weekly