Uri and the King of Darkness: A Hanukkah Story
by Nati Bait; illus. by Carmel Ben Ami; trans. from Hebrew by Ilana Kurshan
Primary    Kalaniot/Endless Mountains    32 pp.
10/24    9781962011983    $19.99

Uri, his little sister Shir, and their mother are waiting for their father to come home to begin their Hanukkah celebration. As evening falls, Uri starts to worry. He imagines, and then draws, Dad in various possible real-life jams (flat tire, stuck in the rain). Looking out the window, he’s freaked out by the shadows, which take the shape of an advancing army led by a blobby-shaped King of Darkness; an appended note makes the connection to King Antiochus IV and the Hanukkah story. Just as Uri and Shir summon their courage, their father appears—bearing jelly doughnuts traditional for the holiday, and ready to light the candles. Effective rhyming text carries readers along while colorful, sketchlike illustrations are a creative mix of realistic and imagined scenarios.

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