Latkes and Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story (by Fran Manushkin)

When a blizzard nearly buries their village in snow on the first night of Hanukkah, the Menashe family has to celebrate without their usual latkes and applesauce, and they are faced with the realization that the storm may last for the entire eight-day celebration. Though they are disappointed, they create a festive spirit as best they can. On the very last day, a winter miracle makes it a Hanukkah to remember.

Though this is a new story, it sounds a lot like a folk tale that might have been passed down through the generations. Its tone is simple, the language folksy, and the message loving in a very traditional way. The small family lives in a candlelit cottage in a time far away in the past, and their story gives a new and pleasant twist to the miracle of Hanukkah.

The chalk-drawn illustrations by Robin Spowart are amazing, even in the paperback edition. Inside the house, soft, golden candlelight floods the shadowed background of each room with a warmth that positively glows. Outside, snow swirls in a blue-black cold until finally it settles into a peaceful mound of silver-blue light under a star-speckled sky. Rounded lines and gentle curves, nothing too startling in its contrast, create the perfect enhancement for this gentle tale. Even readers who don't celebrate Hanukkah will feel the happiness that emanates from both the text and the illustrations of this book. They will also appreciate the explanation of the holiday as well as the recipe for potato latkes and instructions for playing dreidel that follow.