The Passover Parrot

Zusman’s story of how a chatty bird becomes comically enmeshed in a family’s seder returns for its 35th anniversary with new illustrations and shifts in tone that range from subtle to significant. The narrator is now named Lily instead of Leba, and she seems younger and more wide-eyed than her predecessor. Brooker’s artwork—a dense mélange of collage and watercolors—is decidedly more heimish than the impressionistic ink drawings of the original. But the story’s core remains the same: the parrot is adopted by Lily’s family, is named Hametz, and becomes a feathered sounding board as Lily practices the seder’s Four Questions in Hebrew. Zusman died in 1995, but her authorial voice lives on in these pages: it’s like hearing a story from a bubbe who adores her family—foibles, follies, and all. Ages 3–8. (Jan.)