It’s almost Hanukkah! Hur­rah! Time to fry the latkes, light the can­dles, and give the gifts. Of course, every­one knows that books are the best presents to give and get on Hanukkah. What book lover doesn’t appre­ci­ate a new read? Here are my favorite (Jew­ish!) books for all ages this hol­i­day season.

For the Toddler

P Is for Pas­tra­mi: The ABCs of Jew­ish Food by Alan Silberberg

A sweet and per­fect­ly sil­ly intro­duc­tion to the alpha­bet, fea­tur­ing all your favorite Jew­ish snacks — Chal­lah! Haman­taschen! Gefilte fish (maybe only my favorite snack)! — that will make your lit­tle latke cheer and giggle.

For the Preschooler

A Drag­on for Hanukkah by Sarah Mly­nows­ki (me ☺) with art by Ariel Landy

Han­nah gets eight mag­i­cal gifts for Hanukkah — one for each night. There’s a play­ful drag­on, a time-trav­el machine, some row­dy uni­corns … and more. But are the gifts what they seem to be? Read this pic­ture book to cel­e­brate Hanukkah and the pow­er of a child’s imagination.

For the Ele­men­tary Schooler

What Jew­ish Looks Like by Liz Klein­rock and Car­o­line Kusin Pritchard, illus­trat­ed by Iris Gottlieb

This inspir­ing anthol­o­gy cel­e­brates thir­ty-six Jew­ish heroes — like vio­lin­ist Itzhak Perl­man, actress Tracee Ellis Ross, politi­cian Har­vey Milk, and bas­ket­ball play­er Sue Bird — and high­lights the diver­si­ty of Jew­ish expe­ri­ences and backgrounds.

For the Tween

Not Noth­ing by Gayle Forman

This unput­down­able, multi­gen­er­a­tional nov­el about love, hope, and the pow­er of for­give­ness flips back and forth between the sto­ries of twelve-year-old Alex and 107-year-old Josey.

For the Teen

Whis­tle by E. Lock­hart with art by Manuel Preitano

Meet Wil­low Zim­mer­man, a new (Jew­ish!) Gotham City hero­ine, and watch her bat­tle Bat­man vil­lains and save her his­tor­i­cal­ly (Jew­ish!) neigh­bor­hood in this smart, grip­ping, entire­ly orig­i­nal, and beau­ti­ful­ly illus­trat­ed graph­ic novel.

For the New Adult

Don’t For­get to Write by Sara Good­man Confino

This per­fect beach read is a hilar­i­ous com­ing-of-age roman­tic com­e­dy set in Philadel­phia and the Jer­sey Shore in the 1960s.

For the Grownups

Long Island Com­pro­mise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

A big, com­pli­cat­ed, lit­er­ary fam­i­ly sto­ry about inher­it­ed trau­ma — that’s also real­ly, real­ly fun­ny and very, very Jewish.

For the Bub­bies and Zaydes

The Light of Days by Judy Batalion

A cap­ti­vat­ing and impor­tant book about the amaz­ing accom­plish­ments of brave Jew­ish women – turned – resis­tance fight­ers dur­ing World War II.

Hap­py read­ing, everyone!