The Story of Hanukkah

Was informative and helpful to share with those who haven't celebrated before. Great for younger children as it's colorful and not really long.

This book is a very clear, kid-sized retelling of the Macabees and the story of the origin of Chanukah. I brought it in to my son's first grade class and read it to them and answered as many of their questions and comments as I could. Including the one young man who told me that his grandmother had fought in the battle with the Macabees. I would recommend this for any family with children who aren't Jewish but would like to learn more about the origin of Chanukah.

used book to read and share with granddaughter!

Love

Suitable for toddlers

I read this book to my kindergarten-aged daughter's secular class when I was asked to explain Hanukkah to them. It does mention killing and being put to death- for this age group I simply said "getting rid of" and "punished" instead. Despite feeling the need to edit a few terms, I felt this book was the best of the many children's Hanukkah stories I looked at- it isn't too long, it uses pretty simple words and short sentences, and the pictures are really vibrant and interesting. The last two pages of the story briefly explain how Hanukkah is celebrated today, and I love the last line of the book: "Hanukkah celebrates one of the first fights for religious freedom". Religious freedom is an important value in our home and in my daughter's school so it was a great fit for us. After using the book to explain the history of the holiday I followed up with "The Hanukkah Trike" by Michelle Edwards for a present-day Hanukkah story.

This is exactly what I was hoping for - a clear and easy to share story of Hanukkah, with beautiful illustrations that display its rich meaning. There’s even a recipe for latkes at the end!

A really wonderful book, just what I've been looking for. For my five to eight-year old grandchildren, it's by far the best telling of the Hanukkah story, from the time of the Jews living peacefully in Judea to the destruction of the Temple by the Greeks, to the re-taking and of the Temple by the Maccabees, and the miracle of a day's worth of oil lasting eight days until more could be brought to keep the "eternal light" burning as the Temple was restored. There's also a description of modern practices -- the lighting of menorahs, the potato latkes, the dreidle games -- but the emphasis is on the simply-told, engaging story of the holiday's origin. Marvelous illustrations, too.