THE NINTH NIGHT OF HANUKKAH

Hanukkah is celebrated with some differences and an addition.

With boxes strewn about from their recent move to a new apartment house and the one labeled for Hanukkah missing, a family adjusts their holiday routines. When Mom can’t find the menorah and candles, siblings Rachel and Max make a menorah, and a new neighbor supplies candles. When Dad can’t find his “lucky latke pan,” the super shares his French fries. When the children can’t find their dreidel, the twins upstairs share a hula hoop. A package of chocolate chips replaces the gelt, and newspaper becomes wrapping paper for gifts. No jelly doughnuts? Have a peanut-butter–and-jelly sandwich offered by still another neighbor. Happy with the make-do results, the children determine to have a thank-you party for their new friends and dedicate it to the ninth candle on the menorah, the shamash, or helper candle. The arrival of their own Hanukkah box is a plus. The family presents as White while the neighbors are a multiracial assemblage. Children will enjoy watching the family’s cat reacting to the various goings-on and seeing the furnishings gradually replacing boxes over the course of the story. Instructions for a DIY “Shamash Night” close the book. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 69.8% of actual size.)

This pleasant tale will be as useful on a community-helper shelf as in the holiday collection.