This sto­ry takes us back to the shtetl, where fam­i­ly finances are dif­fi­cult and tasks that chil­dren can do are as val­ued as gifts that cost mon­ey. The set­ting is the home where a young fam­i­ly is prepar­ing for the hol­i­day of Han­nukah. The book takes place dur­ing win­ter, where logs in the fire­place and in the stove are the source of warmth as well as the cen­ter for cook­ing. Col­or­ful water­col­or draw­ings accom­pa­ny the retelling of the his­tor­i­cal Han­nukkah sto­ry. The chil­dren sweep the house and pol­ish the brass Han­nukki­ah as their con­tri­bu­tions to the hol­i­day. The moth­er here, how­ev­er, has a prob­lem that par­al­lels the sto­ry of the ancient Mac­cabee vic­to­ry. It is not pos­si­ble to go to the store because of the weath­er, and she is run­ning very low on oil. Her hope is that through some mir­a­cle she will have enough cook­ing oil to make the fam­i­ly its tra­di­tion­al hol­i­day treats for the entire eight days. She is able to save oil left from her cook­ing each day in what the fam­i­ly labels ​“the mir­a­cle jar.” For sev­en days she is able to achieve her goal, but there is no oil left for the eighth day. Through her inge­nu­ity, she is able to delight her fam­i­ly and give them the eighth day treat. The fam­i­ly mem­bers’ love for one anoth­er and the col­or­ful illus­tra­tions are impor­tant attrib­ut­es of the book. How­ev­er, the eighth day mir­a­cle is under­whelm­ing, and as a result the cli­max of the book is dis­ap­point­ing. In addi­tion, for some rea­son, the edi­tor allowed the inclu­sion of the fol­low­ing fac­tu­al­ly incor­rect state­ment explain­ing the rea­son for Hanukkah gelt: ​“These coins are to remind us that after Mac­cabee became an inde­pen­dent state, they proud­ly mint­ed their own coins instead of using those of the Syr­i­ans.” For ages 4 – 8.