Review of A Dragon for Hanukkah

by Shoshana Flax
Nov 22, 2024 | Filed in Book Reviews

A Dragon for Hanukkah A Dragon for Hanukkah
by Sarah Mlynowski; illus. by Ariel Landy
Preschool, Primary    Orchard/Scholastic    40 pp.
9/24    9781338897524    $18.99
e-book ed.  9781338897555    $18.99

The young narrator receives a dragon the first night of Hanukkah, a rainbow the second night…a time-travel machine to visit the Maccabees on the fifth night. It’s all fanciful, but with holiday details woven into the text and winsome illustrations. The dragon’s name is Nerry (ner is Hebrew for candle); the horses on a gifted merry-go-round sport dreidel letters on their saddles. Finally, it’s time to clean up for the eighth night, “the most magical night” in this child’s home because family and friends come for a holiday feast. Engaging back matter is framed as a cartoon discussion about Hanukkah.

From the ">November/December 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.

Shoshana Flax

Shoshana Flax, associate editor of The Horn Book, Inc., is a former bookseller and holds an MFA in writing for children from Simmons University. She has served on the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award and Sydney Taylor Book Award committees, and is serving on the 2025 Walter Dean Myers Award committee.

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