This book has beautiful, semi-realistic illustrations of dinosaurs behaving badly at first (blowing out the candles on the menorah, being rude to family, stealing gelt and dreidels) but then they correct their behavior and act like good dinosaurs.

Along with my menorah and dreidel show and discussion of how humans from many cultures have observed and celebrated the winter solstice, I loved to read How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah ? When my son was younger I was often invited to his preschool class to help teach the kids about Hanukkah. Ruby Sinreich, MomsRising Web Developer and Senior Technologist: MomsRising staff have their own favorite Hanukkah books as well. The Jewish Book Council just released a list of favorite Hanukkah booksfor kids of all ages (including The Hanukkah Hamster, which I can’t wait to get my hands on!). My friend Lauren Ranalli just wrote a book called The Great Latke Cook Off about family tradition, competition, and of course latke recipes. My nieces celebrate Hanukkah and Christmas and one of their favorite books is Light the Lights!by Margaret Moorman, which tells the story of a little girl named Emma who celebrates both holiday, just like so many kids in America now. There are now more books than ever available for us to read to our little ones about the story, celebration, history, and fun that is Hanukkah. They were fairly basic, mostly about latkes or Maccabees.

When I was growing up there weren’t a ton of Hanukkah books available. Many families light a menorah (adding a candle each night), play games with a dreidel, eat foods made with oil ( latkes and sufganiyot!), and spend time with loved ones. Hanukkah is an eight-night 'festival of light' that celebrates the the miracle of the Jews, led by the Maccabees, defeating one of the mightiest armies on earth, the Greeks, against all odds. This week, Jewish families around the world are celebrating the holiday of Hanukkah.

Herschel and the hanukkah goblin