Is It Hanukkah Yet?

September 14, 2015
Barash and Psacharopulo return to the pastoral, benevolent world of Is It Passover Yet? (Mar. 2015), where even the animals have rosy cheeks. Snow has arrived, and the animals that aren’t hibernating are feeling frisky; the siblings from the previous book have plenty of company as they sled down the hill. Soon, relatives arrive to help “stir, fry, and bake/ The applesauce, latkes and cookies we’ll make,” as well as play dreidel, sing songs, and light the first candle. Psacharopulo’s digital landscapes and doll-like characters are as sweet as can be, but because Hanukkah moves around the secular calendar (it famously coincided with Thanksgiving a few years back), it’s not as closely tied to sense memories of snow and cold; the evocation of a winter wonderland ends up feeling a mite too Christmas-y. Once the action moves indoors, however, it’s haimish all the way. Ages 4–7.