Picture Book Review: Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama

Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama
Written and illustrated by:  Selina Alko
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf, 2012

* In our house this book would be titled Hanukkah Daddy & Christmas Mommy, being that my husband is part Jewish.  I thought the kids would enjoy this book because like Sadie, the main character, they celebrate both holidays. 

In Sadie's house though Daddy makes latkes and they leave them on the mantel with some milk for Santa.  I think some of the "mixing" of holidays is a bit much when Mama puts gelt under the tree and Daddy hangs candy canes from the menorah.  Although I like to celebrate each holiday on its own I think it was nice that this family was able to create their own traditions combining the two.  The pictures were interesting, looking like they were painted and then bits of papers and pictures "collaged" (can that be used as a verb?!) on.  I found it both cool and distracting.  Mom is wearing "real" jeans but the steam coming from the latkes and turkey are cut from pages of text from either a book or newspaper.  And is dad's tattoo and scruffy beard really necessary? But then I read the author's bio and discovered that she lives in Brooklyn.  And I'm almost positive that there are dads in Brooklyn that look like the dad in this book does.  So some kids out there will be able to relate to ow he looks.  The author provides a recipe for Cranberry Kugel Dressing at the back of the book which looks interesting.  We enjoyed this book and I thought that it was a good book transition to Christmas, which is quickly approaching.

I know that there is still one more night of Hanukkah but this is the last Hanukkah book review for the year.  My daughter and I are in the middle of reading a chapter book, Penina Levine Is a Potato Pancake by Rebecca O'Connell and unfortunately won't have it finished in time to review. 

This book was borrowed from the library.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

This post is shared at:
Read Aloud Thursday @ Hope is the Word
The Children's Bookshelf @ What Do We Do All Day?

Picture Book Review: The Nutcracker

The Nutcracker
Written by: Stephanie Spinner
Illustrated by:  Peter Malone
Published by: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008

*My cousin invited me and my daughter to watch her daughter dance in The Nutcracker with her dance company.  My daughter took dance for two years and decided that she didn't want to take lessons anymore.  However, one of her favorite shows to watch is Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition and she still loves to dance around the house on her own. So, I knew that she'd love seeing a dance production live in person.  However, I wanted her to be familiar with the story of The Nutcracker before she watched a dance performance of it.  I didn't have a lot of time to put a book on hold so my husband brought home this version that he found at the library.  To be honest, I hadn't read this story in ages so I myself was glad for the refresher!  I'm not really familiar with different versions or adaptations of this story.  I thought that Spinner does a decent job of telling the story.  I didn't think that the illustrations were that eye-catching or engaging, especially for young children.  I think the highlight of this book is the accompanying CD that comes along with it.  We didn't play the CD until after we saw the dance.  My daughter kept trying to remember which dances were done to the different songs. 
This book was borrowed from the library.

Family Rating: 1 thumb up.

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