Hanukkah by Leslea Newman and Rotem Teplow - #bookreview

 

My name is Lior, which is a Hebrew name that means "my light."

Hanukkah is the Jewish Festival of Lights and it's my very favourite holiday...

***

Discover the joy and meaning of Hanukkah, the Jewish festival of lights.

Lior and his parents, aunties, uncles, grandparents and cousins are inviting you to celebrate with them! Join in as they make latkes, light the Menorah, recite the Hanukkah blessings, play the dreidel game and share presents.

Along the way, you’ll learn how Hanukkah is an eight-day celebration marked by the daily lighting of a new candle on the Menorah. It brings the Jewish community together by commemorating the victory of the Maccabees over the Greeks.

This bright and engaging picture book covers:

 The Miracle of Hanukkah

The delicious food eaten, such as latkes, noodle kugel, and sufganiyot

The fun to be had playing the dreidel game

How the Menorah is lit every night using the Shamash

The community celebrations at the Synagogue

and more!

…and this glowing gift book is further brought to life with:

 Instructions to make an edible Menorah

A guide to make a Hanukkah tzedakah box

A recipe for delicious latkes and apple sauce

In this immersive exploration of Hanukkah, young readers join a practising family as they commemorate the miracle of Hanukkah. Seen through the eyes of young children celebrating themselves, this is a simple and exciting way to introduce little ones to this important Jewish occasion.

Part of the Celebrations & Festivals series, you are invited into a family's celebrations as you explore the magic and excitement of religious and cultural festivals around the world.

***

The Jewish festival of Hanukkah is one of those annual events that does not occur at the same time each year. The Christian festival of Easter is exactly the same in this respect. Hanukkah can occur just about anywhere during November and December. It is an eight day festival and in 2024 it begins on the 25th of December and coincides with Christmas Day. 

The book follows one family whilst they make preparations for the upcoming holiday - beginning with the cleaning and decorating of the home in preparation, right through to the eighth night when all nine candles are lit. Following this the decorations and menorah are put away for another year.

Along the way the book tells of the religious meaning of the holiday, the events of the celebration itself, and concludes with recipes, a quiz, crafts and so much more. The illustrations are excellent and the text is well written and presented.

This is one of the nicest books for children that explains the history and modern practices of Hanukkah that I have come across. It is part of the Celebrations and Festivals series, all of which appear equally well done. They cover Christmas, Diwali, Ramadan and more.

I'm proud that my immediate family is multi-cultural and multi-faith. We are a mixture of Christian, Jew, Muslim and Atheist. Therefore, we take great joy in celebrating a range of festivals and appreciating how we can all come together as one.

The book is released in the UK on the 3rd of October and I have already preordered two copies of this as gifts. I highly recommend this.

ISBN: 978 0711287211

Publisher:  Words and Pictures

Formats:  e-book and paperback

No. of Pages:  48 (paperback)

About the Author:

Leslea Newman started her literary career by publishing poems in Seventeen magazine when she was a teenager and never looked back. She is the author of 85 books for readers of all ages. Lesléa’s work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Spanish, Turkish, Serbian, Kazakh, and Chinese. Some of her best known titles are: October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard; A Letter to Harvey Milk; Hachiko Waits; Sparkle Boy; and Heather Has Two Mommies. 

She has a green belt in Shuri Ryu Karate; can turn a canoe on a dime; her favorite color is leopard print; she is (mildly) obsessed with shoes; and she never met a piece of dark chocolate she didn’t like! 

About the Illustrator:

Rotem Teplow is an Israeli illustrator who lives with her husband and two sons in a small village in Israel, near the Dead Sea. She enjoys yoga, reading books, and illustrating beautiful scenery. A graduate of Shenkar College of Design, she currently illustrates for newspapers and children's books worldwide.

(author photo courtesy of Cynthis Leitich Smith)

(author media courtesy of the author's website)

(illustrator photo and media courtesy of Simon & Schuster)

(all opinions are my own)