In new Passover children's books, a bespectacled lion reads the Haggadah and a Depression-era mitzvah

BOSTON (JTA) - On the eve of Passover during the Depression, a juggler in ragged clothes is invited into the home of a poor family that has a bare Seder table. It's a poignant scene in "The Passover Guest," the captivating debut picture book by author Susan Kusel, a longtime Judaica librarian who was inspired by a classic Yiddish tale, "The Magician," by I.L. Peretz.

By lovely coincidence, readers have that rare opportunity to enjoy another retelling of the beloved story in a new publication of "The Magician's Visit," adapted by Barbara Diamond Goldin, with new illustrations by Eva Sanchez Gom...