Review by Booklist Review
How do books survive the ravages of time, use, and war? In the case of a certain lavishly decorated fourteenth-century manuscript, as Strauss shows, preservation required a combination of love and courage over many generations, as the volume traveled from Spain to escape the Inquisition, to Italy, and then Bosnia, acquiring wine stains and childish scribbles along the way. It was hidden from the Nazis by a Muslim museum curator who stuck it in his trousers, rescued from a library destroyed by Serbian bombs in the 1990s, and at last given to a conservator and put on display in the Bosnian National Museum with equally revered artifacts representing the country's other major religions. "The Sarajevo Haggadah is everybody's book," she concludes. There are only a few glimpses of the treasure in Smart's informally brushed scenes, which go more for images of people of diverse faiths and cultural backgrounds gathering together for Passover seders or a museum visit--but the author's note comes with a pair of photos to give viewers a hint of the Haggadah's visual riches.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 2--4--The Sarajevo Haggadah is a stunning 14th-century illuminated manuscript that includes the traditional text used during the Passover Seder, along with elaborate illustrations depicting scenes from the Bible. Strauss traces its miraculous story of survival from the first owners, a Jewish bride and groom in Spain whose descendants were forced to flee from the Spanish Inquisition, to its purchase by the National Museum in Sarajevo, Bosnia in 1894. A Muslim scholar hid the precious book from the Nazis during World War II, and another professor saved it from destruction during the Bosnian War in 1991. It has since been restored and is safe again in the Bosnian National Museum. The sophisticated, textured illustrations use pencil and watercolor to help tell the story of the Haggadah's journey. Colorful, detailed borders also give readers a sense of the artwork contained within its pages. An author's note and a contemporary photograph of the Haggadah is appended. VERDICT An important story that illuminates how people of different faiths recognized the value and significance of this manuscript, one of the oldest of its kind in the world, and worked together to keep it safe.--Rachel Kamin
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
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. Shoshana FlaxJanuary/February 2024 p.123 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
One object travels through several countries over centuries. That object is a haggadah, read at Passover seders. The beautifully illustrated book was a 14th-century Jewish wedding gift. Handed down through generations, it left Spain in the late-15th century, when the Inquisition forced Jews into exile. It was taken to Italy and then Bosnia, but its pages stayed intact even when wine stains and a child's Hebrew writing marred its appearance. In 1894, the National Museum in Bosnia purchased the book, now known as the Sarajevo Haggadah. People of many faiths--including Catholicism, Christian Orthodoxy, Islam, and Judaism--coexisted in Sarajevo, "sometimes in peace, sometimes quarreling." When World War II broke out and a Nazi general wanted to steal the haggadah, the curator of the museum, a Muslim scholar, hid the book in his pants and took it to a village, where it was concealed by an imam. After the war, the curator brought the haggadah back to the museum, but other misfortunes befell the book. With colorful, naïve illustrations highlighting different eras, the appealing narrative emphasizes that people of different religions and cultures saved the book, still on view. This tale is based on stories told over the years; throughout, the strong message of the importance of caring for such a rare volume shines through, making this unusual selection useful in religious and secular settings alike. An absorbing story that will engage readers in the study of history. (author's note) (Informational picture book. 7-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
