One day King Ahasuerus decided to have a festival. The festival was 180 days. One of those days, Ahasuerus called for Vashti, the queen, to show off all her beauty. She refused to come and because everyone had to obey the King, she could not be queen anymore.
The King wanted a new queen so his people looked. There was a Jew named Hadassah. In Persian, that name is Esther. Her cousin, Mordecai, brought her to the king’s palace. It took her about a year to get ready. The king chose Esther as the new queen because of her beauty.
Haman was a descendant of King Agag, so he hated all Jews. He asked the king if he could put the king’s seal on a decree to kill a group of people. The king said yes because he didn’t know which group. Mordecai saw the decree, told Esther to tell the king to take back the decree, and Esther agreed. She prayed because it was wrong to go to the king without being invited, but she went and asked the king to take back the decree. The king said yes and wrote a new decree. He killed Haman and his family, and Mordecai took his position.