Hanukah Lights Hanukah Nights
Written by Leslie Kimmelman
Illustrated by John Kimmelman
Reviewed by Cole C. (age 8)
This book is about a family which includes a mother, father, grandmothers, aunts, nieces, nephews, uncles and cousins. It takes place in a family's house on the eight nights of Hanukkah. In the beginning it is the first night of Hanukkah. The family lights the Shammash candle, which is the candle that lights the rest of the candles. Hanukkah is a celebration that represents the end of a war. The Jewish people did not have enough oil to light the candles. The miracle was that the candles stayed lit for eight nights. Each night of Hanukkah has different traditions like chanting holiday blessings, spinning dreidels, fighting like Maccabees and playing with chocolate gelt. At the end of the holiday the family sang holiday songs and all of the Hanukkah candles were shining brightly.
I enjoyed this book because I celebrate Hanukkah. I learned a lot of Hanukkah traditions that I did not know about. My family lights the candles and exchanges gifts. If you like history, and learning about different traditions you would enjoy reading this book. The illustrations were realistic and I like that. My favorite part was when they were pretending to fight like the Maccabees, because I think it would be fun to do that. I might do that next Hanukkah. Books that give us history about holidays are fun to read.
I would recommend this book to other second graders because it can teach you about Hanukkah, especially if you don't know anything about it. I think it was a great book.