NEXT YEAR IN THE WHITE HOUSE: BARACK OBAMA’S FIRST PRESIDENTIAL SEDER, by Richard Michelson and E.B. Lewis, Crown Books for Young Readers, March 4, 2025, Hardcover, $18.99 (ages 4-8)
Learn how a small Seder dinner on the campaign trail inspired a White House tradition in Next Year in the White House: Barack Obama’s First Presidential Seder, by Richard Michelson and E.B. Lewis.
In 1800, President John Adams held the first formal Christmas dinner at the newly built White House. In 1878, President Rutherford B. Hayes observed Easter with a public “Egg Roll.” But it wasn’t until 2009 that a US president officially celebrated Passover.
A year earlier, on the campaign trail, three staffers had to get creative in order to host a Seder dinner. They gathered in a hotel basement, joined by candidate Barack Obama. They made the most of their surroundings and modest dinner, shared the stories and rituals of the holiday, and found connections between their communities. They made a toast and a promise to a future, grander celebration: next year in the White House. —Synopsis provided by Crown Books for Young Readers
Next Year in the White House is a slightly unconventional picture book as far as its layout — the title page doesn’t make an appearance until a few pages in. It’s a convention that works really well.
Author Richard Michelson’s conversational text has a lovely cadence to it that’s nice to read aloud.
E.B. Lewis’ watercolor illustrations transport readers from the campaign trail to the White House. His colors and emotion provide added interest.
Extensive backmatter includes a note from the men who helped start the tradition; more about Black history and Passover; more information about Passover; and a recipe for Flourless Golden Apricot Cake.
About the creators:
Richard Michelson is a poet, children’s book author, and art dealer whose children’s books have been listed among the 10 Best Books of the Year by The New York Times, Publishers Weekly, and The New Yorker; and among the 12 Best Books of the Decade by Amazon.com. He has been a finalist for the Massachusetts Book Award, the Harlem Book Fest Wheatley Award, and the National Jewish Book Award, as well as receiving two Skipping Stones Multicultural Book Awards, a National Parenting Publications Gold Medal and an International Reading Association Teacher’s Choice Award. In 2009 Michelson received both a Sydney Taylor Gold and Silver Medal from the Association of Jewish Librarians, the only author so honored in AJL’s 50 year history. Michelson received his 2nd Silver Medal in 2017 and his 2nd Gold Medal in 2018. Additionally, Michelson won the 2017 National Jewish Book Award. Michelson is the owner of R. Michelson Galleries, and the host of Northampton Poetry Radio. Visit his website: richardmichelson.com
B. Lewis has illustrated over seventy books for children, including the Caldecott Honor–winning Coming on Home Soon by Jacqueline Woodson. Lewis also illustrated Jabari Asim’s Peaching to the Chickens, which was named a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a Kirkus Reviews Best Illustrated Book, and he’s a five-time Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award winner. Lewis teaches at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He is also a member of the Society of Illustrators in New York City, and an artist member of Salmagundi Club of New York. To learn more: eblewis.com
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