Oy, Santa!: Or, There’s a Latke to Learn About Hanukkah
by Joyce Schriebman; illus. by Gila von Meissner
Primary    Intergalactic Afikoman    40 pp.
10/24    9781951365226    $19.99

With Hanukkah fast approaching, Oliver writes an email to Santa: “I’m Jewish. And that means you don’t have to come down my chimney on Christmas Eve. I just wanna make sure you know.” Santa writes back with what he thinks is reassurance, but then missteps in wishing Oliver a “Happy Chrismukkah.” The correspondence continues (“that’s not my holiday”) in informative and humorous ways. Cheerful cartoony illustrations, blue-heavy for Oliver’s settings and red-and-green for Santa’s, include seasonal motifs and clever details. The Jewish family’s varied skin tones, along with other non–Christmas observers and diversity among the elves, are added pluses for representation.

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