One Little Goat

Starred review from December 1, 2024

Gr 9 Up-What happens when you put together an endless Seder, a talking (scape) goat, and one not-so-wise teen boy? A trip through 3000 years of Seders and a new appreciation of holiday and family. When the nameless main character's youngest sibling throws an absolutely necessary piece of matzah into a time vortex, the family can't end their Seder, per Jewish custom. Fortunately for everyone, a goat shows up and takes the teen on a trip through time, visiting relatives during significant Seders of their past, all the way back to the very first Seder. While delving into history, the teen learns about the importance of Seder to his family and the Jewish faith. He also sees himself with fresh eyes and realizes he has some wising up to do, particularly in trying to be more patient and kind to his younger siblings, and in interacting with his grandparents more, hopefully learning about their unique experiences. Detailed pen-and-ink illustrations of expressive characters create a homey, family atmosphere and a trippy jaunt through time. The text is thoughtfully placed, and explanations of Seder traditions are subtly sprinkled throughout, making this accessible for anyone interested in the Seder or in a trip through time and space. VERDICT This Passover story is written with nimble tongue-in-cheek humor. Readers won't want it to end.-Melisa Bailey

Copyright 2024 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 25, 2024
A seder “is a holiday celebrating freedom, but you are stuck at that table for a very long time,” complains the unnamed child protagonist at the outset of this irreverent and moving graphic novel. His kvetching proves warranted when his younger sister tosses the afikomen—the piece of matzoh necessary to conclude the seder—into a time-traveling wormhole, and in its absence, the seder drags on for six months. Desperate, the narrator joins forces with the pesky goat from the Passover song “Chad Gadya” to retrieve the afikomen, visiting seders throughout the centuries; as Horn (People Love Dead Jews, for adults) explains, the seder night is like an archeological tell, and “all the seders that ever happened in the past before this one, they’re all here, underneath yours.” Revelations about Judaism and the youth’s own family history await at every stop, depicted in b&w drawings by Ellsworth (Secret Life), whose intricate lined textures and wide-eyed characters evoke Mark Alan Stamaty and Edvard Munch, conveying cosmic wonder and comedic anxiety. During his explorations, the narrator comes to see his family’s seder, however messy and querulous, as one link in an unbroken chain of survival, celebration, and identity. Ages 8–12.

January 15, 2025
In this fantastical graphic novel, a boy attempts to bring his family's never-ending Passover seder to a close. According to Jewish law, a seder cannot end until the afikoman--a piece of matzah broken and hidden somewhere in the home--is found. So when the unnamed protagonist's little sister throws the afikoman into a wormhole, the seder is forced to continue indefinitely. Six months in, a talking goat--a reference to a song traditionally performed at the end of the seder--arrives to help the boy track it down. The goat explains that all the seders that have ever occurred are stored under the protagonist's house, and the afikoman is hidden in one of them. As the pair journey through time, the boy watches his great-grandmother participate in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. He witnesses historic seders, such as one that took place during the Spanish Inquisition and another that occurred during the Jewish-Roman Wars. Ellsworth's black-and-white illustrations are filled with busy crosshatched patterns, while characters often talk over one another. This chaos mirrors the surreal plot; reading the book feels like falling down a rabbit hole. Horn zips from one historical event to another without offering much context or explanation; most readers, even those versed in Jewish tradition, will likely be confused. The protagonist's reflections on his identity and family are intriguing but similarly rushed. Characters have skin the color of the page. A wild ride that will leave most struggling to keep up.(Graphic fiction. 8-12)

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