Chanukah Lights Everywhere: A Hanukkah Holiday Book for Kids

by Michael J. Rosen, Melissa Iwai (Illustrator)

Overview

One crescent moon glows in the sky. Two headlights shine through the window. . . . On each magical night of Chanukah, a young boy and his sister count more lights shining all around them! Join them as they discover what it means to celebrate Chanukah in a world filled with so many other lights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780152056759
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	10/01/2006
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	318,053
Product dimensions:	8.40(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

www.fidosopher.com

Melissa Iwai has illustrated many books for young children as well as the nonfiction picture book Thirty Minutes Over Oregon. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family. Visit her online at melissaiwai.com, on Twitter @meliwai, and on Instagram @melissaiwai1.

Editorial Reviews

"Will fill your heart with joy and light . . . [A] lovely story."—Boston Herald
"Kids will respond to . . . the warm feeling this generates and the sheer sense of wonder that the narrator so innocently exudes."—Booklist

—

From the Publisher

Rosen (Elijah's Angel) stresses multiculturalism in this bland venture. For example, on the seventh night of Hanukkah, the child narrator notices that the house of his best friend, who celebrates Christmas, is lit with lamps, "seven altogether"). The focus is so secular that the ending ("I think about... being Jewish in such a wide world of so many other lights") feels hollow. Iwai's (Night Shift Daddy) cheery acrylics contain an unannounced game: the numbers of cats per spread correspond to the successive nights. Ages 3-7. (Oct.) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-On each of the eight nights of Chanukah, a young boy finds a matching number of lights in the world around him to remind him of the burning candles on his family's menorah. The warm, appealing acrylic illustrations and the counting element make this a good choice to share with preschoolers.-E. M. Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

This Chanukah offering from Rosen (Elijah's Angel, 1992, etc.) attempts to find metaphoric comparison for the lights of the Chanukah menorah. But while Angel soars, Lights falls flat. The metaphors are forced, the language stilted, and Iwai's (Night Shift Daddy, 2000, etc.) illustrations, while colorful and appealing, are flawed. On the first night of Chanukah the moon is like a flame. On the second night two headlights from grandpa's car resemble the Chanukah lights, defying the laws of parallel parking as well as the laws of physics by shining directly into the living room of the family's brownstone walk-up. On the third night, cousins come to visit and the young narrator switches on the lamps outside, "and suddenly there are three more lights, like in our menorah!" On the fifth night, five silver dollars shine like lights. By the seventh night, the family finds a Chanukah analogy in the seven bulbs burning in the windows of a Christian friend. Dad declares that "Chanukah is also about the joy of different religions sharing a street." So far, the story has revealed little about the meaning of Chanukah. Iwai's illustration for this spread shows a suburban neighborhood, despite already having depicted the family's street in the heart of a neighborhood that looks a lot like Brooklyn. A note following the text explains the origins of the holiday. Disappointing. (Picture book. 3-5)

Kirkus Reviews