‘This was the Passover book I was born to write’

Passover holds a special place in Dara Horn’s heart. She even titled one of her novels All Other Nights.

Growing up, she and her siblings invented creative retellings of the Exodus story during their family’s seder on the first night of Passover. “It was a very creative seder, where we were putting ourselves into the story,” the award-winning author reflected. “It was a full show that we would write and perform, and it was different every year.”

On the second night of the holiday, Horn’s family would attend a friend’s seder, which she describes as a “gigantic intergenerational gathering,” with some 50 people seated by age. “At one end of the long table were Holocaust survivors singing Yiddish songs, and the children were way at the other end making jokes about things like television shows,” she recounted. “These two groups were attending two different seders- but in every generation, you see yourself.”

In addition to publishing six books-including People Love Dead Jews-Horn is founder and president of Mosaic Persuasion, a nonprofit devoted to educating the broader American public about Jewish civilization.

Horn, a bestselling novelist, drew upon these experiences when writing One Little Goat . Published in February, the graphic novel tells the story of a family that cannot find their afikomen and become trapped at a seder that cannot end. “A lot of seders can feel endless,” Horn said, laughing. “It’s a holiday about celebrating freedom, but you’re stuck at that table for a very long time.”

Six months into the seder, a talking goat appears at the door and reveals that the afikomen is stuck inside one of the guests at the Seder. The family’s “wise child” must time-travel with the goat through centuries of previous Passovers to find it.

Since One Little Goat is Horn’s first children’s book, she turned to her four kids to assist during the creative process. “They were like my focus group,” she said. “My youngest was especially involved in reading the manuscript. I would watch him closely to see when he was laughing. I also monitored where jokes landed with the older kids, since there are some subtle jokes meant for adults.”

Another important member of Horn’s creative team was her illustrator, Theo Ellsworth, whose artwork she had admired for years. She first discovered his book Capacity on a road trip with her family. “I was just enchanted by his artwork,” she said. “His illustrations are extremely detailed, and reminded me of the books that I loved as child, where there’s a million things going on in one scene.”

In fact, Horn cold-contacted Ellsworth by email. Despite not being Jewish or familiar with Passover, the Montana-based illustrator was the ideal partner for the project, and quickly agreed to come on board.

Horn, who is based in New Jersey, provided art direction for the manuscript and admits Ellsworth’s ideas were often “much cooler” than her own. “He was excited to dive in, and it was an amazing experience to work with him,” she said. “I sent him pictures and images from medieval haggadahs , and he picked some that he was really enamored with and just went to town. It was a lot of fun.”

Although One Little Goat is technically a children’s book, Horn believes it appeals to a variety of generations.

“It can equally be enjoyed by someone who is a rabbi, and somebody who is an eight-year-old who has been to a seder once in their life,” she said. “But, at the same time, it also takes you into this depth of Jewish history that I think is very unusual in a children’s book.”

To learn more about Horn’s work or to purchase One Little Goat , visit darahorn.com.