Chil­dren’s

Cel­e­brate Hanukkah with Light, Latkes, and Dreidels

  • Review
By – October 26, 2011
Full-col­or pho­tographs and an attrac­tive lay­out com­bine with an inter­est­ing, infor­ma­tive text to cre­ate a stun­ning intro­duc­tion to Hanukkah focus­ing on light, Jew­ish iden­ti­ty, free­dom, and the cel­e­bra­tion of mir­a­cles. The pho­tographs include con­tem­po­rary Jews cel­e­brat­ing Hanukkah in Israel, India, Peru, Ugan­da, Poland, Los Ange­les, Ghana, and Rome, and are all paired with descrip­tive cap­tions. Phras­es like It was a mir­a­cle,” We are proud to be Jew­ish” and We share the light in our hearts” are inte­grat­ed into each page spread. The impres­sive More About Hanukkah” sec­tion includes basic facts, instruc­tions for light­ing the meno­rah and play­ing drei­del, a pota­to latke recipe, books and web­sites for fur­ther read­ing, a glos­sary, and a world map indi­cat­ing the places where the pho­tos were tak­en. Part of Nation­al Geographic’s Hol­i­days Around the World” series, this will be a wel­come addi­tion for all libraries. Jew­ish libraries in par­tic­u­lar will eager­ly await the upcom­ing titles on Passover and Rosh Hashanah. Ages 6 and up.

Rachel Kamin has been a syn­a­gogue librar­i­an and Jew­ish edu­ca­tor for over twen­ty-five years and has worked at North Sub­ur­ban Syn­a­gogue Beth El in High­land Park, IL since 2008, cur­rent­ly serv­ing as the Direc­tor of Life­long Learn­ing. A past chair of the Syd­ney Tay­lor Book Award Com­mit­tee and past edi­tor of Book Reviews for Chil­dren & Teens for the Asso­ci­a­tion of Jew­ish Libraries News & Reviews, her arti­cles and book reviews appear in numer­ous pub­li­ca­tions. She has been a mem­ber of the Amer­i­can Library Association’s Sophie Brody Book Award Com­mit­tee since 2021.

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