Prepare yourself for a very bouncy (& delicious) sequel!

Charlotte Offsay has visited my blog several times to talk books, including CHALLAH DAY (Albert Whitman 2021), the book that came before today’s book.  She is also the author of THE BIG BEACH CLEANUP (Albert Whitman 2021), HOW TO RETURN A MONSTER (Beaming Books 2021) and A GRANDMA’S MAGIC (Doubleday Books for Young Readers/Penguin Random House 2022) among others. You can learn more about Charlotte at her website or follow her on Twitter and on Instagram.

MATZAH DAY is a sequel of sorts to CHALLAH DAY. It too has a bouncy joyful rhyme that will captivate readers immediately. In this book we see a new family excited about the many ways to make matzah for the passover celebrations. However, as the book unfolds there are tiny clues that this isn’t a new family at all. They’re related! All the fun and strengths of the first book are repeated and expanded in this new one. It’s a phenomenal feat from both author and illustrator that appears easy and seamless.

Welcome back Charlotte!

Me: I love this sequel to CHALLAH DAY. What gave you the idea for this book?

Charlotte: Thank you so much for having me back on your blog Jena, I really appreciate your continued support and am thrilled to hear that you enjoyed Matzah Day! I adore the Jewish holidays and often try to find creative ways to celebrate them in the kitchen with my kids. We have made many kinds of Matzah together during Passover and I thought a compilation of them would be a fun way to continue celebrating Jewish joy as a follow up to Challah Day.

Me: So to clarify for non-Jewish readers (like me), is matzah only eaten during the eight day Passover celebration?

Charlotte: Matzah is fairly plain tasting on its own and primarily eaten during Passover as a way to remember and honor the Passover story. That said, it is sold year-round and some people do enjoy it outside of the eight day holiday. While my family enjoys all the different ways to eat matzah during Passover (many of which are shown in this book) for example, the only person I know who eats Matzah year-round is my mother in law, Pam, to whom I dedicated this book.

Me: I have to ask a dumb question. If matzah is a cracker, what is matzah ball soup? I kept expecting to run into matzah ball soup during the story and was surprised when I never saw it.

Charlotte: There are no dumb questions! Matzah ball soup is a soup made of chicken broth, matzah balls and vegetables – it is delicious! The matzah balls themselves are a ball made from matzah meal, eggs, and oil. Matzah is a form of unleavened bread, and matzah meal is ground matzah. What a fun question! 

Me: I can’t believe how well you were able to mimic the first book’s text and yet at the same time, branch out on your own here. How many revisions did it take to get the text this well-honed? Or was it like this from the first draft?

Charlotte: What a lovely compliment, thank you! I tried a few drafts of Matzah Day to mirror making matzah the way the characters make challah but to me the drafts were as plain as the food it was about. Once I realized that what we really love is all the different ways to enjoy matzah, the story came together fairly quickly. Having the structure and rhyme pre-established from Challah Day made this much easier to write and meant far fewer drafts than the many years I worked on again-off again on Challah Day.

Me:  Once again you left plenty of room for the illustrator to work and once again Jason Kirschner hit it out of the park!  I love that he extended the SAME family from the first book!  Did you have any illustration notes for this?  Or did he use creative license?

Charlotte: Jason Kirschner is incredibly talented and the extended family he cooked up was all him! I adore what he did and can’t take any credit for the magic he cooked up!

Me: Jason Kirschner’s illustrations are wonderful!  It’s similar in the best ways, and yet different too. It’s so amazing to see the two books side by side. Were there any illustration surprises for you?  Any favorites?

Charlotte: I was delighted to see that Matzah Day book has a cat throughout the story, while Challah Day has a dog. Although while we didn’t have a dog when Challah Day came out and do now, I don’t think we will be following suit with Matzah Day and getting a cat – although I suppose only time will tell ;).

There are so many favorites throughout the book that it is hard to pick a handful to tell you but I adore everything from the faces peeking through the matzah on the endpapers to the perspective of the characters peering into the oven at their matzah baking, and from the cat kicking matzah crumbs out of its bed to the characters at the end parading through the kitchen as though it is Hanukkah, and especially the grandma enjoying matzah clearly out of season just like my own mother in law! 

Me: Ha! We enjoyed many of the same illustration moments. Once again, you have a food centered book with delicious recipes in the back that I’m guessing you’ve made many times at home. Do you have a favorite of the matzah recipes you shared? Is there a recipe that wasn’t shared due to space in the book?

Charlotte: I personally think everything is better covered in chocolate, so matzah candy is my favorite of the ones I shared in the back of the book. Another favorite though is the delicious sweet matzah brei that my husband makes for breakfast during Passover – matzah soaked in a mixture of eggs and milk and cooked in a pan like french toast and covered in sweet maple syrup – highly recommend!

Ohh! That also sounds delicious. Thank you for stopping by my blog again today Charlotte.

Dear readers, this book came out in February but Passover starts next week! If you are celebrating the holiday with family, make sure to check out this fun take on matzah. It’s a treat!