The Sydney Taylor Shmooze

Eight Sweet Nights, A Festival of Lights: A Hanukkah Story by Charlotte Offsay, illustrated by Menahem Halberstadt Doubleday Books for Young Readers (imprint of Knopf), 2024 Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Rebecca Greer Buy at Bookshop.org A joyous introduction to Hannukah for young children. This delightful story follows a family consisting of a mother, father, son, and daughter celebrating the Festival of Lights together. They visit extended family, cook and eat latkes and sufganiyot, light traditional candles, play dreidel games, and open presents. Each page includes a small caption explaining traditions and words that may not be familiar. At the end of the book, the complete Hanukkah story is told in an age-appropriate way along with information on what the word means and why it’s spelled in various ways. Also included is an overview of how and why Hanukkah is celebrated, discussing the many traditions depicted in the story. The parents and children are illustrated in a variety o...

The Passover Mouse by Joy Nelkin Wieder, illustrated by Shahar Kober Category: Picture Books Reviewer: Gigi Perlman Pagliarulo An esoteric yet entertaining Talmudic conundrum is this basis for this lively, insightful and ultimately uplifting Passover story. Lonely widow Rivka has just finished fastidiously sweeping her home clean of chometz when a mischievous mouse steals a piece of bread from the pile of crumbs to be burnt and escapes. Thus ensues a wild and silly chase across the village and through houses, worrying frustrated villagers that there is ever more hidden chometz in their homes to clean before sundown. The wise town Rabbi consults the Talmud and returns a characteristically cryptic answer: “the matter is not decided,” so the townspeople must clean their homes once again to be sure. As they band together to clean and cook for the Seder, a sense of community spirit, forgiveness and togetherness draws all to Rivka’s usually empty home to celebrate Passover in friends...