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By: Alicia Padrón,
on 5/25/2011
Blog: My place over the hill (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 12/1/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas Books, Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
Christmas Stories in Verse from Blue Rose Girls (Reviews of Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree; Santa’s Stuck; and Merry Christmas, Merry Crow)
Winter Lights & Christmas Trees from Blue Rose Girls (Reviews of Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts and A City Christmas Tree)
Christmas Printable Books from Enchanted Learning
November-December 2007: Holidays Around the World from CBC Magazine
Hanukkah Read Up!: A list of great Hanukkah books of the last few years recommended by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries
Hanukkah Books: Book lists and book reviews from Wild Rose Reader 
By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/30/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Poetry Friday, children's poetry, Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
HANUKKAH LIGHTS: HOLIDAY POETRY
Selected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Pictures by Melanie Hall
HarperCollins, 2004
Hanukkah Lights is An I Can Read Book. It’s a poetry collection for beginning readers. Its poems are also just right for sharing with very young children. This slim volume contains a dozen poems about potato latkes, dreidels, and Hanukkah lights. Poets whose works can be found in this book include Jane Yolen, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Lillian M. Fisher, Ann Whitford Paul, and Avis Harley.
The collection begins with Maria Fleming’s poem Dizzy in which a child expresses excitement about the coming holiday by comparing herself to a “dizzy top.”
From Dizzy
by Maria Fleming
I feel all giggly and wiggly
inside,
All twirly, whirly, squiggly
inside
Like a dizzy top
dancing
and spinning
and humming…
Most of the poems are rhythmic and rhyming like Michele Krueger’s Latke Time.
From Latke Time
by Michele Krueger
Grate the potatoes gently,
Chop some onions, too.
It’s time to make the latkes,
a heaping plate for you!
Heat the griddle slowly,
pour the oil in,
fry up forty latkes,
let the feast begin!
Most of the poetry in Hanukkah Lights: Holiday Poetry has little imagery or figurative language. The short poems are written in simple language and most could be easily memorized by young children. This is a book that would be nice to have on hand to share with children whose families celebrate Hanukkah.
By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/27/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/25/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: picture book reviews, Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS
Written by Eric Kimmel
Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Holiday House, 1989
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins is my favorite Hanukkah read-aloud picture book for the Festival of Lights. Kimmel, a great storyteller, hit a literary homerun with this spooky tale, which is a favorite of elementary school children.
Wicked goblins haunt an old synagogue at the top of the hill in Ostropol. They make life miserable for the villagers. The goblins especially hate Hanukkah. They do everything in their power to ruin the holiday for the people. To rid Ostropol of the goblins, the menorah candles in the old synagogue must be lit every night of Hanukkah. On the final night of the holiday, the king of the goblins must light the candles himself. Hershel, the main character, is not afraid of the goblins so he volunteers to spend the eight nights alone in the haunted synagogue. Hershel proves he is not only brave…but also clever. He outwits the goblins and destroys their power over the village.
Trina Schart Hyman received a Caldecott Honor for the illustrations she created for this original story that reads like an old tale. She captures the mood and drab setting perfectly with her use of gray, black, brown, and blue in her artistic compositions. Her goblins are creepy looking creatures. Her painting of the silhouette of the towering red-eyed goblin king standing in the doorway of the synagogue is truly frightening. Story and art combine to make this book a surefire hit with young kids.
At the end of the book, Kimmel includes information about Hanukkah, the menorah, the dreidel, and potato pancakes.
By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/24/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
Themed Reviews: Hanukkah from Childrenslit.com
Top 10 Children’s Books about Hanukkah from About.com.
Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights from KidsReads.com
Come Light the Menorah! comes to us from The Planet Esme. 
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By: Alicia Padrón,
on 5/25/2011
Blog: My place over the hill (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: children's art, Back in time, alicia padron, Add a tag
By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 12/1/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Christmas Books, Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
On Beyond Rudolph: Christmas with the Animals from The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
(Click here for the pdf version.)
Holiday High Notes from The Horn Book
Christmas Picture Books from Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Review
Christmas Holiday Recommended Reading: Kids Books for Christmas from Apples 4 the Teacher
From Kids Reads
Celebrating Christmas
2006 Holiday Roundup (Christmas & Hanukkah)
2005 Holiday Roundup (Christmas & Hanukkah)
2004 Holiday Roundup (Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa)
2003 Holiday Roundup (Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa)
Christmas Picture Books from Through the Looking Glass Children’s Book Review
Christmas Holiday Recommended Reading: Kids Books for Christmas from Apples 4 the Teacher
From Kids Reads
Celebrating Christmas
2006 Holiday Roundup (Christmas & Hanukkah)
2005 Holiday Roundup (Christmas & Hanukkah)
2004 Holiday Roundup (Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa)
2003 Holiday Roundup (Christmas, Hanukkah, & Kwanzaa)
Christmas Stories in Verse from Blue Rose Girls (Reviews of Mr. Willowby’s Christmas Tree; Santa’s Stuck; and Merry Christmas, Merry Crow)Winter Lights & Christmas Trees from Blue Rose Girls (Reviews of Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts and A City Christmas Tree)Christmas Printable Books from Enchanted LearningNovember-December 2007: Holidays Around the World from CBC Magazine
Hanukkah Read Up!: A list of great Hanukkah books of the last few years recommended by the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries
Hanukkah Books: Book lists and book reviews from Wild Rose Reader
2 Comments on Christmas & Hanukkah Books, last added: 12/2/2007
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By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/30/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Poetry Friday, children's poetry, Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
HANUKKAH LIGHTS: HOLIDAY POETRYSelected by Lee Bennett Hopkins
Pictures by Melanie Hall
HarperCollins, 2004
Hanukkah Lights is An I Can Read Book. It’s a poetry collection for beginning readers. Its poems are also just right for sharing with very young children. This slim volume contains a dozen poems about potato latkes, dreidels, and Hanukkah lights. Poets whose works can be found in this book include Jane Yolen, Lee Bennett Hopkins, Lillian M. Fisher, Ann Whitford Paul, and Avis Harley.
The collection begins with Maria Fleming’s poem Dizzy in which a child expresses excitement about the coming holiday by comparing herself to a “dizzy top.”
From Dizzy
by Maria Fleming
I feel all giggly and wiggly
inside,
All twirly, whirly, squiggly
inside
Like a dizzy top
dancing
and spinning
and humming…
Most of the poems are rhythmic and rhyming like Michele Krueger’s Latke Time.
From Latke Time
by Michele Krueger
Grate the potatoes gently,
Chop some onions, too.
It’s time to make the latkes,
a heaping plate for you!
Heat the griddle slowly,
pour the oil in,
fry up forty latkes,
let the feast begin!
Most of the poetry in Hanukkah Lights: Holiday Poetry has little imagery or figurative language. The short poems are written in simple language and most could be easily memorized by young children. This is a book that would be nice to have on hand to share with children whose families celebrate Hanukkah.
I HAVE A LITTLE DREIDEL
by Maxie Baum
Illustrated by Julie Paschkis
Scholastic, 2006
I Have a Little Dreidel is an adaptation of the traditional dreidel song known by many children who celebrate Hanukkah. Baum adds verses to the song to tell the story of a family gathering to celebrate the holiday. Relatives arrive at the home of the child narrator and share in the preparation of the latkes they will eat for dinner. Verses about the holiday traditions of cooking and eating latkes, lighting candles, and playing the dreidel game are included in this holiday tale.
Julie Paschkis’s colorful folk-art style paintings are stunning and really bring Baum’s text to life. Her illustrations express the closeness of the family and their joy in celebrating the holiday with each other. One picture shows three generations joining in making the dinner: father and children peel potatoes, grandmother tests the applesauce, and mother fries the pancakes.
Each two-page spread has two verses of the poem/song—with the refrain on the right hand side. The verses are set inside boxes framed by blue and white borders that contain the Star of David, dreidels, and other design elements. The text is placed at the bottoms of the pages throughout the book. The main illustrations are set atop the bordered verses.
Here’s an excerpt from the book:
Mommy fries the latkes
And puts them on a plate;
Supper’s almost ready,
And I can hardly wait.
Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
I made it out of clay;
Oh, dreidel, dreidel, dreidel,
Then dreidel I shall play.
The illustration of the family assembled at a table covered with a lemony yellow cloth that exudes warmth is a visual feast. We see smiling adults and children raising glasses in a toast while one child reaches down to feed the dog with his other hand, a gray cat with a quizzical expression sitting at the foot of a another child’s chair, the baby dropping its cup on the floor, a large golden menorah gleaming in the window, platters laden with latkes and bowls brimming with applesauce. Paschkis’s art is the star of this book. Her illustrations are filled with brightness and color and holiday cheer.
I Have a Little Dreidel can be read in two different ways. One way is to read the book page by page from beginning to end. Another way would be to read only the verses on the left-hand pages and exclude the refrains. Done the second way, the text reads more like a narrative poem than a song.
The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Two Writing Teachers today.
8 Comments on Poetry for Hanukkah, last added: 12/9/2007
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By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/27/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
Chanukah Lights Everywhere by Michael Rosen is a good book to read aloud to very young children. Its narrator is a five-year-old boy. As he and his family celebrate each night of the Festival of lights, the little boy sees Chanukah lights everywhere. On the first night when his family lights one candle on the menorah, the boy thinks “the skinny moon beams like a proud candle flame against the dark sky.” On the fifth night, when his great-grandma gives him five shiny silver dollars, the young boy lines up the coins on his hand and arm. "They sparkle like five more lights in the candles’ glow.” On the seventh night, he and his family drive past the house of his best friend who celebrates Christmas. The boy sees one candle-lamp with a single bulb glowing in each window—seven altogether…just like the candles in his family’s menorah. On the last night of Hanukkah, the boy and his father stand atop their city building looking through a telescope at the sky. The young boy finds the seven stars in the Big Dipper and the North Star and feels as though God were “lighting his own menorah in the sky.”
Chanukah Lights Everywhere is a simply told tale. It’s also a counting book. Melissa Iwai pictures the objects the boy sees that seem to echo the number of candles lit in his menorah each night: one skinny moon, two headlights, three outside lamps illuminating the entrance to his house, four flaming burners on the stove, five shiny coins, six other houses with menorahs gleaming in their windows, seven Christmas candle-lamps glowing in the windows of his best friend’s house, eight stars shining in the sky.
Melissa Iwai’s acrylic illustrations bring coziness to Rosen's straightforward text. The houses’ windows glow with yellow light infusing the winter night scenes with warmth. Her use of bright colors and changing perspectives also add visual interest to this quiet story.
Chanukah Lights Everywhere is a simply told tale. It’s also a counting book. Melissa Iwai pictures the objects the boy sees that seem to echo the number of candles lit in his menorah each night: one skinny moon, two headlights, three outside lamps illuminating the entrance to his house, four flaming burners on the stove, five shiny coins, six other houses with menorahs gleaming in their windows, seven Christmas candle-lamps glowing in the windows of his best friend’s house, eight stars shining in the sky.
Melissa Iwai’s acrylic illustrations bring coziness to Rosen's straightforward text. The houses’ windows glow with yellow light infusing the winter night scenes with warmth. Her use of bright colors and changing perspectives also add visual interest to this quiet story.
An author's note with information about the history and tradition of Chanukah lights is included at the end of the book.
THE CHRISTMAS MENORAHS: HOW A TOWN FOUGHT HATE
Written by Janice Cohn, D.S.W.
Illustrated by Bill Farnsworth
Albert Whitman, 1995
The Christmas Menorahs: How a Town Fought Hate is a nonfiction book. It's a true story based on events that happened in 1993 in Billings, Montana.
It’s Hanukkah, and the Schnitzer family has menorahs glowing in the windows of their house. On the third night of the holiday, someone throws a rock through young Isaac Schnitzer’s bedroom window. The police chief informs the Schnitzers that there has been a small group of people in their town causing trouble by passing out leaflets saying hateful things about some minority groups and committing hate crimes against Jews, Native Americans, and African-Americans. Community members work together to fight against the prejudice. Many citizens put pictures of menorahs in their windows to show their solidarity with the Schnitzers. After a time, the crimes begin to stop.
The Christmas Menorahs is a good story to share with children to show how people can band together to take a stand against acts of bigotry and to help protect minorities in their community.
2 Comments on Hanukkah Lights, Hanukkah Books, last added: 11/27/2007
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By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/25/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: picture book reviews, Hanukkah Books, Add a tag
HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINSWritten by Eric Kimmel
Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman
Holiday House, 1989
Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins is my favorite Hanukkah read-aloud picture book for the Festival of Lights. Kimmel, a great storyteller, hit a literary homerun with this spooky tale, which is a favorite of elementary school children.
Wicked goblins haunt an old synagogue at the top of the hill in Ostropol. They make life miserable for the villagers. The goblins especially hate Hanukkah. They do everything in their power to ruin the holiday for the people. To rid Ostropol of the goblins, the menorah candles in the old synagogue must be lit every night of Hanukkah. On the final night of the holiday, the king of the goblins must light the candles himself. Hershel, the main character, is not afraid of the goblins so he volunteers to spend the eight nights alone in the haunted synagogue. Hershel proves he is not only brave…but also clever. He outwits the goblins and destroys their power over the village.
Trina Schart Hyman received a Caldecott Honor for the illustrations she created for this original story that reads like an old tale. She captures the mood and drab setting perfectly with her use of gray, black, brown, and blue in her artistic compositions. Her goblins are creepy looking creatures. Her painting of the silhouette of the towering red-eyed goblin king standing in the doorway of the synagogue is truly frightening. Story and art combine to make this book a surefire hit with young kids.
At the end of the book, Kimmel includes information about Hanukkah, the menorah, the dreidel, and potato pancakes.
ZIGAZAK!: A MAGICAL HANUKKAH NIGHT
Written by Eric Kimmel
Illustrated by Jon Goodell
Doubleday, 2001
Another of my favorite Hanukkah books is an exciting tale, also written by Eric Kimmel, entitled Zigazak!: A Magical Hanukkah Night. I used to read it aloud in my school library. My students loved it!
In this story, little devils flying over the town of Brisk notice menorahs shining in the windows and deduce it must be Hanukkah. They decide to have some fun. They use their magic powers to disrupt the holiday celebration in the town. Zigazak! Dreidels grow arms and legs and begin dancing in the butcher’s house. Zigazak! Latkes go zipping through the air at Hannah Leah’s. Zigazak! Instruments fly out of musicians’ hands and play a lively kazatzka and candles explode like fireworks, shooting colored flames through the house of the town’s richest resident.
The village is in pandemonium. The frightened townspeople run to the home of their rabbi for help. The rabbi is a wise man. He confronts the evil spirits. The calm and clever holy man outwits the mischievous devils and the town of Brisk ends up celebrating Hanukkah as it never had before.
Jon Goodell’s illustrations bring us the action of this hectic holiday night of flying latkes, dancing dreidels, airborne instruments, and rockets of colored flames shooting through the air. He also shows the emotions of surprise, fear, sadness on the faces of the story characters. His demons are devilish looking, indeed—but not too scary for young children to appreciate.
Click here to view an illustration from Zigazak!.
Click here to view the cover art for Zigazak!.
3 Comments on Magic & Monsters: Picture Books for Hanukkah, last added: 11/27/2007
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By: Elaine Magliaro,
on 11/24/2007
Blog: Wild Rose Reader (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
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Now that Thanksgiving has past, my thoughts have turned toward children’s books about other holidays. Hanukkah falls in early December this year…so I thought I’d start by posting links to some lists and blog reviews of Hanukkah books.
From Web Sites
Top 10 Children’s Books about Hanukkah from About.com.
Hanukkah: The Festival of Lights from KidsReads.com
From Kidlit Blogs
Come Light the Menorah! comes to us from The Planet Esme. Susan of Chicken Spaghetti compiled a list of Hanukkah books for children last December in her post The Eating of Latkes: Hurray for Hanukkah.
Here is my review of The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes, which I posted at the Blue Rose Girls blog last December.
Here is my review of The Borrowed Hanukkah Latkes, which I posted at the Blue Rose Girls blog last December. 
0 Comments on Hanukkah Books for Children as of 11/24/2007 11:50:00 AM
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Thanks for mentioning the "Hanukkah Read Up" list we created at AJL last year. Just to mention a few more recent titles, you might want to try Hanukkah Moon by Deborah da Costa (about Mexican Jewish Hanukkah customs), Letter on the Wind: A Chanukah Tale by Sarah Lamstein, and chapter book Like a Maccabee by Barbara Bietz. Also, if you'd like to hear interviews with the creators of Letter on the Wind and Like a Maccabee, you can listen to the December '07 episode of my podcast, The Book of Life, at www.bookoflifepodcast.com.
Heidi,
Thanks for the information and URL!