NONFICTION: RELIGION
Our Haggadah: Uniting Traditions for Interfaith Families by Cokie and Steve Roberts
Steve Roberts grew up in a Jewish family but didn’t celebrate Passover until he was married — to a Catholic. At his wife, Cokie’s, urging, the couple learned about the holiday, which, they write, “transcends ethnic identity.” After all, the Passover seder may be a retelling of the Jews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, but it’s also a broader celebration of human freedom.
Having compiled their own Haggadah (the book used at the Passover seder that includes the rituals, prayers and telling of the Passover story) from several existing versions, the Bethesda, Md.-based journalists have been hosting interfaith seders for their family and larger crowds for more than 40 years.
In “Our Haggadah,” the couple tells the Passover story, as well as their own. With this participatory and egalitarian handbook, the Robertses create a virtual seat at their seder table through anecdotes from their celebrations, notes on their family traditions and practical advice for anyone hosting a seder — interfaith or not.
While establishment Judaism often struggles to embrace mixed marriages, the Robertses — who have written on this topic before — provide an inclusive guide that extends beyond Passover to address interfaith unions:
“We have always tried to emphasize our shared values, not our differences,” they write. “We have tried to educate, not convert, each other.” Lisa Bonos, Washington Post Writers Group
FICTION: A MOTHER’S INSTINCT
Save Me by Lisa Scottoline
Lisa Scottoline is back in top form in “Save Me,” manipulating pulse rates and heartstrings with all the ruthlessness she showed in “Look Again” (2009). As she did in that white-knuckle thriller, she sets loose today’s most indomitable superhero, the protecting angel who carries all before her: a mom.
Rose McKenna is newly arrived in Philadelphia with her husband, infant son and daughter, Melly. They moved from their previous home because Melly, afflicted with a facial birthmark, was being bullied at school. While volunteering as a lunch mom to assess the situation at the new school, Rose witnesses a girl, the pretty and popular Amanda, entertaining a couple of friends by painting her cheek with grape jelly in mockery of Melly’s birthmark. Melly runs off in tears to the bathroom, and as Rose tries to reason with the girls, an explosion rips through the kitchen, filling the cafeteria with smoke and flames.
Now what? Rose is faced with a terrible choice: save the three little bullies or run off amid the fire and confusion to rescue her daughter from the bathroom. There are so many excellent twists and terrible surprises to come that it’s not giving much away to say that Rose manages to lead the three tormentors to safety and then to save her child. But archbully Amanda runs back into the cafeteria and is badly injured.
Although celebrated as a hero, Rose feels guilty for having put her own child second to the others. That feeling is joined by horror and dismay when Amanda’s mother accuses her of abandoning the girl. The town turns against Rose, the press shows fangs, and everyone lawyers up.
Just when the reader is wondering whether Rose will ever fight back, steel enters her spine. A chance conversation brings evidence that there was something fishy about the fire, and she means to get to the bottom of it. Events culminate in a spectacular conflagration, and in the midst of it all, one mighty figure towers: Mom.
Katherine A. Powers, Washington Post Writers Group
FICTION: A MAGICAL FANTASY
The Lost Gate by Orson Scott Card
Danny North is 14 and not quite normal. Though related to everyone in his grubby and isolated western Virginia compound, he has never fit in. That’s because almost every other member of the “family” is a mage, able to create fairies and communicate with plants, rocks or animals.
Although Danny is a descendant of ancient gods (in particular, those from Norse mythology), he’s believed to be a drekka, a magical dud, much like a squib in “Harry Potter.” But not far into Orson Scott Card’s “The Lost Gate,” Danny realizes he’s no drekka: In fact, he wields the greatest magic of all. He is a gatemage, able to create invisible passageways that allow him to travel from one place to another in an instant. This type of magery is so powerful that it’s outlawed among magical families around the globe. Danny must run away from home lest his parents be forced to put him to death.
Because he has inherited the talents of the last great gatemage, Loki, it’s no surprise that Danny is able to muster enough charm and moxie to succeed in the completely foreign world of the drowthers (think muggles). He strengthens his gating skills while trekking to Washington, where he learns more about his legacy from a previously undeciphered text in the Library of Congress.
Eventually, Danny tries to be a normal high-school junior (albeit one who uses magic to cure a cute girl’s acne). But it’s clear that he has much more important work to do; indeed, this entertaining book — which includes a parallel story about another young gatemage and his completely different adventures — seems neatly set up for a sequel. Sara Sklaroff, Washington Post Writers Group
