Repeatedly evading theft and destruction with the help of many over several centuries, a treasured book becomes a symbol of hope in a war-torn land. This hand-painted and -lettered haggadah—the book used to conduct a Passover Seder—had a relatively humble beginning: In the mid-fourteenth century, it was given to a Jewish couple on their wedding day. When they escaped Spain during the Inquisition, the haggadah’s journey was only just beginning. It traveled with generations of the family to Italy and then Bosnia before it was sold to the National Museum in Sarajevo. There it became a historical artifact called the Sarajevo Haggadah. But there was much unrest to come. When Nazis tried to steal it during World War II, the Haggadah was smuggled to a remote village and temporarily hidden in a small mosque. In 1991 it was rescued by a Muslim professor when Serbs bombed the museum. The Haggadah was brought out from its secret location only once to reassure a group of Christians, Muslims, and Jews celebrating Passover together in Sarajevo’s only remaining synagogue that it still survived. After the war, the Haggadah—almost 650 years old, “a book that was cherished by the whole family of nations”—was restored and returned to the Bosnian National Museum. Protected and cherished by people from many religious backgrounds, the Haggadah’s storied life, told here in a picture book that reads like a thrilling adventure, reflects history and represents unity. (Ages 7-10)

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This true story begins long ago in Spain, where a bride and groom are gifted a hand-painted haggadah. It is used at many Passover seders until the Spanish Inquisition when the family escapes. The haggadah survived for centuries in different countries. Scholars declared it a treasure. To protect it from the Nazis, a curator smuggled it out of a Sarajevo museum and hid it in a village mosque. On Passover of 1995, with bombs exploding overhead, the Bosnian president brought out the book from an underground vault to show the world that it was safe. The Sarajevo Haggadah has become a symbol of people of many faiths and cultures working together.