"At our seder tonight
Nineteen guests are expected.
No uncles forgotten,
No cousins neglected..."
Alas, they only have the titular nine chairs! What's the solution? Several amusingly outlandish ideas precede the more practical one.

From PJ Library ( )

Sweet, cute, charming, silly rhyming story gives a good overview of the seder. Works for all ages, from young preschoolers on up.

I like the mathematical problem and its solutions: If you have only nine chairs and 18 people, then how do you equitably distribute chairs and people? Well, you look at the factors of 18 and find a factor that is less than or equal to nine. Clearly, one chair works! The book then explains how to use the necessary periscopes, fishing lines and more to perform the various sections of the seder up to the meal.

For the meal itself, another factor of 18 is used to divide people among chairs. It reminds me of the stories about the difference between heaven and hell, in which people around a table can only eat if they cooperate with each other.

The pictures in the new version are in color and newly copyrighted for 1995; the originals were in black and white. Also the book itself is made better; the original edition is now falling apart. ( )

NO OF PAGES: 29 SUB CAT I: Children's Resources SUB CAT II: Feasts/Festivals SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: A children's story about the dilemma of having 19 guests for Passover, and only 9 chairs.NOTES: SUBTITLE: A Tall Tale For Passover