Hanukkah falls to the background in this slight story of a medical annoyance.
Is there any help for a bad case of Hanukkah hiccups?
Alas! Poor Hannah cannot stop hiccupping. Unfortunately, it is Hanukkah, and Hannah is busy practicing her solo performance for a recital at her Jewish school. Her family offers remedies, but none work. Her doctor gives her a brown paper bag to breathe into. Her neighbors, a diverse assembly, provide various folk cures. Mr. Taylor, who’s black, urges her to drink “pickle juice backward.” A Mexican-American neighbor tells Hannah to count to 10 in Spanish and place a “wet, red string on her forehead.” Other neighbors offer remedies, some obviously culturally specific and some less so. None of these rid her of the hiccups. In the meantime, she and her family light the candles each night and prepare and eat latkes. Still hiccupping, Hannah does manage to perform a tap-dance solo in front of a diverse audience, and her success will make readers wonder why she was so anxious. (Whether tap-dancing was a last-minute idea to conceal the hiccups or not is unclear.) Finally, on the eighth night of the holiday, as all the neighbors stop by for a feast of lox, latkes, and pickles: no more hiccups. Digitized illustrations are rendered primarily in red, gray, and black and resemble markers. Hannah, who has a huge mass of black curly hair, is paper-white, as is her family.
Hanukkah falls to the background in this slight story of a medical annoyance. (note for families) (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-68115-537-1
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Apples & Honey Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
An upbeat holiday tale marred by spotty logic.
An unusual Hanukkah miracle.
On the first night of Hanukkah, Ruthie’s parents give her a pair of holiday-themed “pajamakkahs.” Dad says that she can wear them to the family’s “Hanukkah Pajamakkah Party” on the eighth night. Ruthie wants to wear them “all eight nights.” Mom agrees but tells her to keep them “spotless.” Despite Ruthie’s precautions, she accrues myriad stains as she helps cook latkes, lights the menorah, does arts and crafts, and crashes into a pile of jelly doughnuts. But there are no spots here, says Ruthie—just “streaks,” “splotches,” “sparkles,” and “squishes.” On the final night of Hanukkah, the whole family and even the dog sport pajamakkahs of their own. Mom’s aghast at Ruthie’s pj’s. Dad says it’s a miracle they lasted eight nights, but he sees spots. “Dotted, not spotted,” Ruthie counters. Other, racially diverse, pajama-clad family members arrive. Ruthie twirls the dreidel and, inexplicably, causes a whirlwind, upending latkes, art supplies, and more. Are those spots on Ruthie’s pajamakkahs at last? Finally, Ruthie says, “a Hanukkah miracle!” This thinly plotted, only mildly amusing story is rife with logical holes. Even the youngest readers won’t believe Ruthie’s parents didn’t insist the badly soiled pj’s should get tossed in the washer sooner. It isn’t clear what’s so miraculous about Ruthie’s dirty jammies, and the child’s literalness wears thin. The cheerful, digitally created illustrations feature familiar Hanukkah symbols but are otherwise undistinguished. Ruthie and her immediate family are pale-skinned.
An upbeat holiday tale marred by spotty logic. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9781728284576
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
Low-key and gentle; a book to be thankful for.
Spinelli lists many things for which people are thankful.
The pictures tell a pleasing counterpoint to this deceptively simple rhyme. It begins “The waitress is thankful for comfortable shoes. / The local reporter, for interesting news.” The pictures show a little girl playing waitress to her brother, who playacts the reporter. The news gets interesting when the girl trips over the (omnipresent) cat. As the poem continues, the Caucasian children and their parents embody all the different roles and occupations it mentions. The poet is thankful for rhyme and the artist, for light and color, although the girl dancer is not particularly pleased with her brother’s painterly rendition of her visual art. The cozy hotel for the traveler is a tent for the siblings in the backyard, and the grateful chef is their father in the kitchen. Even the pastor (the only character mentioned who is not a family member) is grateful, as he is presented with a posy from the girl, for “God’s loving word.” The line is squiggly and energetic, with pastel color and figures that float over white space or have whole rooms or gardens to roam in. Both children, grateful for morning stories, appear in a double-page spread surrounded by books and stuffed toys as their mother reads to them—an image that begs to be a poster.
Low-key and gentle; a book to be thankful for. (Picture book. 4-7)Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-310-00088-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Zonderkidz
Review Posted Online: May 17, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015
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