All-of-a-Kind Family Hannukah

When I first started to read on my own I couldn’t get enough of Sydney Taylor’s All-of-a-Kind Family chapter books, which I recently heard called the “Jewish Little House on the Prairie.” The series follows five sisters as they grow up in New York City during the first few decades of the 20th century, recording family dramas (low-key) and traditions. So I was thrilled to see that an award-winning children’s author and illustrator had teamed up to create a picture-book introduction to these not-all-that-well-known classics. Vibrant, page-filling pictures, which often give the delicious feeling of peeking into a dollhouse, are the backdrop for the story, starring 4-year-old Gertie, who is frustrated that she’s not old enough to help make the latkes, just before finding out that she is the perfect age to light the first candle on the menorah. Any young person who enjoys the book this year will most certainly be ready to start on the series by Hanukkah-time next year. (Ages 3 to 6)