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The Magician's Visit
A Passover Tale
Illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker
Published by Viking, 1993
ISBN: 0670848409; Hardcover, Viking, 1993
ISBN: 0140544550; Paperback, Puffin, 1995
Reading level: Ages 3 to 8

A newer edition of this title is available from Green Bean Press, 2021.

It is the busy days before Passover, but the marketplace bustle suddenly halts when a fantastical stranger appears—a wondrous magician who, though penniless and dressed in rags, pulls yards and yards of fancy ribbons from his mouth and strikes his shoe to produce rivers of gold coins. 

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In the town lives a couple, poor yet full of faith, whose few pennies go to charity rather than to furnish their own Seder table. For them no matzah or wine, no herbs or holiday feast. But on Passover eve, the mysterious magician appears at their door, summoning candles that dance and chairs that fly and everything needed for the Seder.

Who is this magical stranger? Are his gifts real or merely an illusion?

Originally crafted at the turn of the century by I.L.Peretz, this traditional holiday tale is brought to new life by Barbara Diamond Goldin's simple and powerful retelling. With luminous, evocative illustrations by renowned artist Robert Andrew Parker, The Magician's Visit is a story to treasure all year long.

Barbara Diamond Goldin says, "I remember vividly the excitement and anticipation I felt as a little girl when we reached a certain point in the Passover Seder. It was time for me to open the door for the Prophet Elijah. Opening the door to the outside world, something I did every day, felt different on this night. The moment was one of mystery, of awe, of expectation. And even though Elijah didn't actually walk in, somehow I didn't feel disappointed. I had the feeling that someday he would."

"In this gracefully told and illustrated retelling, a magician --'the Prophet Elijah, himself'--appears on Passover eve." --The Horn Book

A Children's Book-of-the-Month Club selection.

This book is out of print in paperback and hardcover. Available in libraries and from stores and websites that sell out of print books, such as www.bibliofind.com.

A newer edition of this title is available from Green Bean Press, 2021.

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