Worlds That Never Were: Lift by Minh Lee

WHEN I'M A BIT DOWN, THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING THAT CHEERS ME UP.

PUSHING ELEVATOR BUTTONS!

Iris always gets to push the elevator button when her family comes home to their apartment building. It's a little like magic, really. She pushes the button, enters a plain little box with her mom, dad, and toddler brother, and almost immediately it opens onto a completely different place, one where her apartment is her own personal world. But one day the unthinkable happens. One elevator is out of order, so they move to the other one, and...

Her little brother pushes the button first!

BETRAYAL!

But then Iris notices the elevator repairman toss an discarded button and its frame in the trash. Quickly Iris fishes out and pockets it, and back in her room, she tapes it to the wall by her door. She gives it a push, and with a BING! her door opens, not to her family apartment, but to a dark forest with a tiger!

GASP!

Iris slams the door just as the doorbell in the living room rings. It's their babysitter, coming to stay with games to play. Iris complies with the plan, frozen dinners and board games and bedtime for her brother and herself. At last it's quiet and in her bedroom behind the closed door, Iris is wide awake and ready for more adventure. She pushes her special private button and her door opens, this time onto outer space, with her own space craft, through which she floats weightlessly and suits up for her own private space walk.

And then when she hears her little brother awake and crying, she floats back into her room and goes into his room, picks him up, and brings him back to have his turn, pushing the button, too, and...

DING!

It's another world of towering snow-covered mountains, and the two move out into it, leaving their tracks behind them....

There is no power like imagination "to take us lands away" to paraphrase Emily Dickinson, in Minh Le's latest, Lift, (Hyperion, 2020), in which little Iris finds that her reach for a magic button can take her to imagined "worlds away" where she can roam the universe in her own space station. Mission accomplished! With the comical and quirky illustrations of Caldecott Award-winning artist, Dan Santat, an elevator button lifts Iris and her baby brother into a fanciful world just as the rabbit hole took Alice to Wonderland, with wonderful adventures to be had. "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, or what's a Heaven for?" said Robert Browning, one of those optomistic Victorian poets. Author Minh Le favors a more modern prognosticator, Carl Sagan, who said, "Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were, but without it, we go nowhere."

Puns Kirkus in their starred review, "Iris' creative growth elevates us all!"

Mama's Girl! Me & Mama by Cosbi Cabrero

"GOOD MORNING TO YOU," SINGS MAMA, BRIGHT AS SUN.

SOMETIMES SHE SINGS IT LIKE THE BIRTHDAY SONG.

Her papa and brother still sleep on, but where her mama is is where this girl wants to be. Her mother has already been working at her sewing machine, but now they head to the kitchen. The girl is hungry, and they have a bowls of cinnamon-flavored oatmeal and fill their cups.

Mama's fancy cup clinks when she stirs. The girl's plain cup just goes "DUH DUH."

But rain is beginning to spatter against the windows!

A PERFECT DAY FOR BOOTS AND PUDDLES! SAYS MAMA.

But first there's a shower like a warm rain, and then tooth brushing.  Mama nixes the choice of a silver dress and shoes. The girl puts on her plaid pants, better for rainy day walks.

Mama's boots are tall and red. The girl's boots are short and yellow. With an umbrella for each of them and a leash for Max the dog, they walk down a sidewalk where the cracks are filled with soft green moss like fluffy velvet.

WE SHOUT OUT LOUD TO SKY.

And the pavement is filling up with puddles ... to stomp!

SPLASH! SPLASH!

Back home the day winds down toward bedtime, and after stories for her and her brother, the girl drifts off to sleep, dreaming of another day where...

THERE'LL BE MAMA!

In a warm portrait of a mama's girl, Cosbi Cabrero's, Me & Mama (Simon and Schuster, 2020), is a idyllic portrait of a mother who has the power to make ordinary moments memorable in the eyes of her young daughter. Cabrero's illustrations of showery streets and cozy interiors are charming and lovely, with much attention to homey details that evoke the simple joys of family life with mama. A beautifully illustrated, slice-of-life ode of adoration for doting daughters and marvelous mamas." says Kirkus Reviews

What a Woman! What a Life! Harriet Tubman by Doraine Bennett

Making American history real and vibrant for primary graders is not an easy task. First graders don't have many years in their personal rearview mirrors, and even grandparents' lives seem like ancient history. But citizenship begins in childhood with early childhood education when stories of heroic deeds can vividly engage young minds. One historic hero who is fairly recent in the historic record is Harriet Tubman, a woman whose dedication and courage outshines many another better-known hero.

Harriet was born in Maryland sometime before 1822 and sent off to work for a neighboring farmer at the age of five. She was beaten by her temporary master and carried a scar on her forehead from a blow from her owner, but fortunately managed returned to the farm where her own families were still slaves. Harriet grew up doing all kinds of work--field work, laundry, cleaning, and cooking, and when she became an adult, she heard stories if a place called Philadelphia in Pennsylvania, a place where slaves could be free to work for their own wages, go to church, and become educated, and Harriet decided that she was going to find a way to that place someday.

And when she did, she determined that she was going to help others escape. Fearlessly, she went back by night to bring her own parents to freedom, taking a horse and wagon from her master's barn and barely escaping ahead of the bullets of her pursuing master across the Pennsylvania line. Known as "the Moses of Her People, Harriet made 19 trips back into slave country and rescued up to 300 people, proudly telling Frederick Douglass that she "never lost a single passenger" on her personal Underground Railroad. Vigorously sought by Southern slavecatchers, Harriet even made her way to Canada until it was safe to return to Philadelphia.

When the Civil War broke out, Harriet volunteered to nurse the wounded in Union hospitals and soon became as a famed spy behind Confederate lines, sometimes going into Rebel army camps disguised as a laundress to gain secrets of troop movement. She was so daring that she actually gained information that enabled her to lead a company of Union soldiers up a river in South Carolina to destroy a Rebel arsenal and ferry. In her long life, Harriet never ceased her efforts for equality and even became a prominent leader in the Women's Suffrage Movement until her death in 1913.

What a life! What a WOMAN!

Doraine Bennett's short but fact- and illustration-filled book, Harriet Tubman (American Heroes) (State Standards Publishing, 2019) offers primary graders the basic facts of the life of this amazing historic hero. A strong mind in her barely five-feet tall body, Tubman is now recognized as a truly amazing African-American hero, an American heroine worthy of the fame that has come to her only recently. More books for primary readers include Carole Boston Weatherford's Caldecott-winning Moses: When Harriet Tubman Led Her People to Freedom (Caldecott Honor Book) and David Adler's easy reader, A Picture Book of Harriet Tubman (Picture Book Biography).

Nobody Knew My Name: Danbi Leads The School Parade by Anna Kim

On my first day of my new school in America, my heart beat "BOOM BOOM."

Mama held me and whispered, "Listen to your teacher and eat your lunch."

I said, "Don't worry, Mama, I will be good today!"

But beyond that red door, Danbi sees everyone in the class staring at her. The teacher smiles and shows her how to write her name, and Danbi does, but she doesn't understand what anyone is saying and she doesn't know how to play any of the games. Danbi tries, but it's embarrasing when her one block makes the whole tower fall. No one plays with her. Finally the teacher claps her hands and everyone pulls out lunch boxes.

"That I know how to do!" thought Danbi.

She opens her tall round lunch box, and there is a fancy feast--yams in honey, crystal dumplings, sweet and sour mini skewers, rainbow drops half-moon rice cakes. Amid their peanut butter and cheese sandwiches and juice boxes, they look exotic. The other kids are wowed! Danbi notices that the girl next to her is looking wishfully at her lunch box,

The girl next to her was looked hungrily at her lunch... so Danbi gave her a rainbow drop.

UH OH!

Ooops! The rainbow drop drops back into Danbi's lunch box. The girl doesn't know how to eat with chopsticks. Everyone laughs and Danbi gives her a lesson. Then Danbi has an idea: She taps on her lunch box with one chopstick.

TING!

The girl taps the other chopstick on her juice box.

TI-DING!

And Danbi and her new friend begin to march around the room drumming on their lunch boxes and soon the whole class joins them . They play together at recess, and afterward her new friend Nelly teaches her to write her name and then they write both names in English letters... on their cubbies, side by side:

SOFT AND ROUND WITH A DOT OVER ONE STRAIGHT LINE.

There are first days of school and then there are first days of school in a different country and in a new language, and Anna Kim makes use of her own experiences at school in America to give young readers an glimpse at how hard it is to be a stranger in a strange school, in her upbeat first day story, Danbi Leads the School Parade (Viking, 2020). Kim's story from the standpoint of being a really NEW kid at school is told with great understanding for all involved in Danbi's first day, and the author's artwork is charming and vivacious in the style of Hilary Knight's memorable illustrations for Kay Thompson's classic Eloise books. Kirkus Reviews gives this new one a rave starred review, saying, "Enchanting illustrations dazzle—particularly through the diverse characters’ hair and facial expressions that detail individuals’ unique traits while celebrating the entire cohort. Imaginative, irreverent, improvisational fun in kindergarten."

If It Looks Like a Duck....My Brother the Duck by Pat Zietlow Miller

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Snow Play Day: Dino-Christmas by Lisa Wheeler

EVERYONE IS FULL OF CHEER!

Santa Claws has had his applause. Now what can the Dinos do for fun? Wait! LOOK!

FAT FLAKES STICH A QUILT OF WHITE.

PERFECT FOR A SNOWBALL FIGHT.

Campysaurus packs snowballs and flings. T. Rex makes angel wings.

IGUANA SCULPTS DINOSAURS OF SNOW.

ANKYLO FEASTS ON MISTLETOE.

The mischievous Ptero twins' snowballs hit T. Rex with a whack, but then it's time to give them back a smack. It's all in good fun, a day on the run, for the Dino-Kids in a merry snow play until the day is done. Now what?

Soon it'll be time for them all to convene...

To plan their costumes for Halloween?

It's never a dull day with Lisa Wheeler's Dino-Kids, in her Dino-Christmas (Dino-Holidays) (CarolRhoda Books), in a holiday free-for-all in the new snowfall. When they're not mauling each other in football or Dino disco dancing, they can be found in more holiday Dino stories, Dino-Thanksgiving (Dino-holidays) and Dino-Halloween (Dino-Holidays).

Christmas Surprise! Too Many Tamales by Gary Soto

Snow drifted through the streets and Christmas trees glittered in windows.

Maria was feeling really grown up, helping her mother make tamales. Her hands were covered with masa as she kneaded the dough. Maria felt grown up, wearing her mother's apron. If only she could wear Mom's ring, she thought to herself.

And when Mom leaves her ring on the table when she goes to answer the telephone, Maria decides to try it on.

The ring sparkled on her thumb!

When her mother comes back, she asks Maria to go get her father to help them finish the tamales, spreading the masa on the cornhusks. Soon there were twenty-four tamales steaming in the pot.

Just then the whole family arrives and Maria takes her cousins upstairs to play. Suddenly she looks down at her thumb.

"The ring!" she screams.

"What ring?" her cousins asked.

Maria whispers an explanation as she and her cousins slip quietly into the kitchen.

The steaming tamales lay piled high on a platter.

"Help me!" said Maria.

There's only one thing to do. Each one of them must eat six tamales, watching out for a ring inside one of them.

It's a big challenge, but all's well that ends well, concluding with the whole family mixing up a new batch of tamales--which for the four well-fed cousins are Too Many Tamales (G. P. Putnam's Sons), in Gary Soto's good-natured story of a family gathering that will be the stuff of a Christmas legend the relatives will tell for many Christmases to come. Ed Martinez' illustrations are warm, humorous, and particularly skilled in facial expressions, in a different holiday tale, about which Booklist says, "A very funny story, full of delicious surprises . . . a joyful success."

No Scrooges This Season! I've Got the Christmas Spirit! by Connie Schoefield-Morrison

There are wreaths in every window and snow on every windowsill on this girl's street, as she skips down the sidewalk with her mother for some Christmas shopping.

I HEARD THE SPIRIT IN THE AIR--DING DONG DING!

She's been saving up the spirit all through the year and now the season for it is here!

There are carolers caroling and skaters whooshing around the rink! There are colored lights blinking from every shop window, with store Santa's Ho-Ho-Ho-ing and corner Santas ding-ding-dinging over their kettles, asking for gifts for the needy. And, oh, my golly! Is that the aroma of chestnuts roasting?

'Tis the season to be jolly and this spirited girl feels it in her happy nose and dancing toes.

GOOD TIDINGS AND CHEER TO ALL THROUGH THE YEAR!

Shoo, Scrooge! Go away, Grinch! All is merry and bright! Daddy's back and it's time to start celebrating, in Connie Schofield-Morrison's I Got the Christmas Spirit (Bloomsbury Books). Author Connie Schofield-Morrison's cheery and spirited heroine is back in a story for those who love everything about the season. What's not to like at Christmas, and she throws herself fully into the joys of the holiday. As in their other collaborations, I Got the School Spirit and I Got the Rhythm, Connie and Frank Morrison's ebullient heroine echews holiday angst a la Charlie Brown, but meets the season full of holly jollity with a glad FA, LA, LA!

Dumb Cluck at Christmas: Minerva Louise at Christmas by Janet Morgan Stoeke

The kids can't believe what they are seeing. "Wait! An evergreen is decorated with colored lights! Is it party time? On the roof?"

"Oh, look! They've invited goats!"

Minerva Louise, the family's devoted hen, is worried. And there's a strange farmer in a odd red hat up there with the goats with jingly harnesses.

But that farmer's wagon has lost all its wheels!

And even more strange, that big farmer is jumping down a well on the roof. Oh, my!

Minerva Louise, the family hen, aims to protect her people, so she follows the farmer in the hat down the well, and finds herself inside the house.

"Wait! That tree wasn't in here before! And that pretty hen is sitting up there to warm up."

As Minerva Louise inspects the tree, she notices a box under it with some round, colored things inside.

"Look! She's been laying the most beautiful eggs! And they're all over the branches!"

Minerva Louise may be a dumb cluck, but she does her best to guard her family from a mysterious midnight visitor. He finishes decorating the tree, unpacks presents from his pack, and even snacks on the goodies that Minerva is sure are there for the family's breakfast. She scolds the farmer in the red hat for sticking some stuff in her family's socks, too. But then, with a smile, he pulls out one more be-ribboned box and presents it to Minerva Louise herself.

Christmas comes as a surprise to Minerva Louise, in this funny hen's-eye view of Christmas Eve in a silly noodle tale just right for young celebrants. And when the family wakes up, they are greeted by their pet hen nesting in her very own gift box under the tree, in Janet Morgan Stoeke's Minerva Louise on Christmas Eve (Dutton Books for Young Readers). Kids love noodlehead stories, and Minerva Louise plays her jolly role with aplomb in this book from her own series of easy-reading holiday tales. Other seasonal stories about Minerva are Minerva Louise on Halloween and A Hat for Minerva Louise.

Here Comes the Neighborhood! Miracle of 133rd Street by Sonia Marzano

It was Christmas Eve.

Jose' was decorating the tiniest Christman tree ever. It was practically a twig--and what was he supposed to do with all the left-over ornaments?

Now his Mami is yelling from the kitchen.

"This oven is too small for the roast! We should never have left Puerto Rico. Everything is too small here!"

Papi rushes into the kitchen and surmises that there is no way the Christmas roast is going into that little oven. But he quickly comes up with a solution--to take the roast over to Regular Ray's Pizzeria and ask them to cook their roast in one of their ovens. Papi calls for Jose' to come along with him. On the way Mrs. Whitman pokes her nose out of her apartment's door to complain loudly that her kids are driving her crazy.The noise brought Mrs. Santiago out to see what was going on, and Mr. Franklin stepped out to glare at Jose' and Papi's big box.

"I thought someone's TV was being stolen!" he said, suspiciously."

Papi explained that they were taking their meat to the pizzeria to be roasted.

"Are you nuts!" grouched Mr. Franklin. "All the muggers are out and it's snowing!"

Down at the street level, Jose' is greeted by his friend Yvonne, whose brother complains that they will be shovelling snow all night!

Jose' and Papi trudge for several blocks through the snow, until they see the bright lights of Regular Ray's pizza place. Ray is tidying up, in case he gets to close early, but he cheerfully agrees to cook the roast. And when it comes out of the big oven, it smells delicious!

"FELIZ NAVIDAD!" said Ray! "Why don't you join us?" asked Papi. "We celebrate on Christmas Eve!"

Regular Ray agrees happily, and the three of them, carrying the roast with its irresistible aroma, trudge back to Jose' apartment house. Along the way the fragrance seems to make everyone feel better. A Christmas tree seller stops haggling and gives away his last big tree to a buyer. At their apartment house, the inviting savory smell of the roast brings all their neighbors back out, and Papi invites them all to come along and share their Christmas celebration. The neighbors smile and bring along their own specialties, and the tiny apartment seems to be big enough for all of them.

"It's a miracle!" says Mami.

And it is indeed the old Christmas miracle story, retold, in Miracle on 133rd Street (Atheneum Books). If there is a Christmas saints in this story, it's not Santa, or Tiny Tim, or the Magi, but Papi, whose good spirits never falter and whose kind invitations turn this lonely Christmas in a new home into a neighborhood festival. The award-winning author and illustrator Sonia Marzano and Majorie Priceman, come together to bring the spirit of Christmas magic to this story, and the family's tiny apartment proves as big as their host's welcoming heart. Priceman's jolly, swirling illustrations are filled with a variety of characters and the potential for the joy of the season that an open heart brings.

Share this one with Tomie de Paola's equally benevolent Merry Christmas, Strega Nona.

Fences: Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border by Mitali Perkins

Abuela stars in all of Mama's stories, but my only memory is a voice calling me "Angelita." We haven't seen my grandmother in five years. But today is La Posada Sin Frontiers, and we are taking a bus to the border to meet her.

Maria, her mom, and her little brother Juan board the bus to the Border Field State Park in San Diego. Mama is knitting the last few rows on a scarf for Abuela which Maria has been working on for weeks and little Juan clutches his gift for his grandmother, a drawing of Mary and Joseph at an inn with a sign that says "NO RUME." At the park they wait for the border officers as they allow small groups to enter the space between the two border fences between Mexico and the U.S. to meet their families on the other side.

At last it's their turn. She hears a voice calling her mother's name.

"Sylvia! Sylvia!

And then Maria hears a now familiar voice, her grandmother's!

"Juan! Maria Angelita!"

"I'm still her little angel," Maria thinks happily.

The openings in the fence are small, only big enough to touch each other with fingers, but their words travel back and forth quickly. But Maria's knitted scarf is not allowed through by a border officer who gives it back to her. Mama' promises to mail it to Abuela, but Maria is still sad. But what about her little brother's drawing? Maria thinks about that as priest leads a short Posado service and the officers tell them it's time to go. But Maria has an idea to get her brother's gift to Abuela.

"Abuela, esparate'! Wait!" she calls.

Sitting on the sand, Maria takes the knitting needles and yarn from her mother's bag and fashions a kite out of Juan's drawing, and on the third try, the little kite soars over the two fences as the crowd and border officials alike applaud. Mama' cuts the yarn and the kite wobbles and drops into the sand of Mexico, where Abuela picks it up and carries it carefully home.

In a touching story of family life at the border, Mitali Perkins' Between Us and Abuela: A Family Story from the Border (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019) show that love indeed knows no borders. In the skillful illustrations of Sara Palacios, the kite and yarn become apt symbols of the ties that bind families together despite closed borders and steel fences. A Christmas-themed story for young people that speaks volumes. "A story of family strength and unity overcoming fences along the Mexican/United States border. Another poignant piece to add to the current national discussion about the border. A must for any collection," says School Library Journal's starred review.

Heavenly Peace! Shooting at the Stars: The Christmas Truce of 1914 by John Hendrix

In 1914, World War I had just begun, but the enemies, Germany against Britain and France, were already at a stalemate. It was the time of the deadly "Trench War." Well dug-in on a field in France, the enemy forces were separated along a demarcation line known as "No Man's Land" a narrow strip between the two armies. Half-frozen and almost always wet, the soldiers huddled in their shelters inside their trenches, knowing that when they ventured out to attack, most of them would be shot down by their opponents machine-gun fire at very short range.

It was a stalemate, and it was Christmas Eve when....

... A very young soldier named Charlie sat down in the mud to write a letter home to his mother.

Dearest Mother, Thank you for your last letter. Your words are such a comfort to me. I wish to serve my beloved country, England, but life in this foul pit is very trying. But, Mother, I must tell you about something that happened today--a tale so wonderful that you will hardly believe my account....

The British troops had been stuck in the trenches for almost three months, dealing with constant rain and deep, sticky mud, and although a deep freezing front has brought snow and ice, the soggy floor of the trench bunkers had frozen, giving relief from the mud, and there had been no shelling that day from the German artillery less than a hundred feet away across No Man's Land. The young soldiers rejoiced in that respite from fear and death, and then they heard... someone singing in German. It was "Silent Night!" They waited, wondering if a barrage of shells would follow, but instead, a banner saying "Merry Christmas" was raised and they heard someone shout from the German trenches:

"HELLO? ENGLISH SOLDIERS! WHERE ARE YOUR CHRISTMAS TREES?"

Someone stood up, holding up a tiny evergreen decorated with tiny birthday candles.

Rifleman Tapp tossed a jar of pear jam over to the singing Germans, and Lieutenant Lovell stood up and walked across No Man's Land and shook the hand of the German soldier with the Christmas tree for the Americans. Others followed, swapping souvenir coat buttons and belt buckles. Soldiers from both sides came out to help each other bury their dead and mount handmade crosses over their graves.

THEY TRADED PUDDINGS AND BISCUITS.

A GERMAN NAMED KARL SAID, "WHY CAN'T WE JUST GO HOME AND HAVE PEACE?"

That night the artillery barrages didn't come. To make it seem they were following orders from headquarters, the British soldiers didn't fire on the Germans. Instead, as Charlie reported to his mother...

"WE WERE SHOOTING AT THE STARS."

John Hendrix' Shooting at the Stars (Abrams Books) tells the true and timeless story of how peace broke out on Christmas Eve along the Western Front of World War I, perfectly paced and illustrated with sensitive and yet humorous illustrations that gives young middle readers both some sense of the suffering of those young men who endured the miseries of trench warfare and the beauty of that Christmas eve when foes became fellow human beings transcending the scene. Hendrix' engaging illustrations are particularly effective in portraying the feeling of young men thrust right out of school into this horrendous war. Says Horn Book's reviewer, "While not shying away from war’s grim realities, the pictures go a long way toward conveying the hopeful light of the German Christmas trees twinkling in the night.""

Recommended for both upper elementary history students and as a moving Christmas story for all ages.

"Tis the Season to Be Jolly! Merry Christmas, Peppa (Peppa Pig) by Melanie McFadyen

IT WAS CHRISTMAS DAY!

PEPPA AND HER FAMILY ARE OPENING THEIR PRESENTS!

But Peppa is so excited that she forgets to be careful and takes a tumble when she steps on a new toy car!

Oww! Her arm really hurts!

Mama has to telephone Dr. Bear, who recommends a trip to the hospital for an X-ray There Peppa is surprised.

THE HOSPITAL IS ALL CHRISTMAS-Y!

Peppa's X-ray shows no bones broken! The nurse even gives her a sticker for being brave.

And then Peppa gets a really big surprise. It's Father Christmas right there--in the hospital with presents and a party for all the kids.

Peppa always loves Christmas...

EVEN IF IT'S AT THE HOSPITAL!

With its sparkly cover and lots of Christmas-y decor inside, Merry Christmas, Peppa! (Peppa Pig 8x8) (Scholastic Press, 2019) has a different but just as jolly Peppa story for the holiday season. Share this one along with Christmas with Peppa (Peppa Pig: Board Book) and Peppa Pig and the Lost Christmas List.

Through the Woods to Bubbe's Cottage: Little Red Ruthie--A Hanukkah Tale by Gloria Koster

Little Ruthie is merry. It's cold and snowy outside, but wearing her poofy red parka with its cozy hood, she sets out through the woods to her Bubbe's house, thinking warm thoughts and carrying a basket with sour cream and applesauce for the special latkes she and her grandmother always make during Hanukkah.

All is merry and bright as Little Red Ruthie skips through the forest until, as it starts snowing heavily, she makes a wrong turn on the path.

RUTHIE FINDS HERSELF FACE TO FACE WITH A WOLF!

"LITTLE GIRL, I'M GOING TO EAT YOU UP!" SAID THE WOLF.

BUT IT WAS HANUKKAH. RUTHIE WANTED TO BE AS BRAVE AS THE MACCABEES!

Ruthie knows she must also be clever, so she opens her coat and shows the wolf how skinny she is, but promises that after she eats lots of latkes for the next eight days, she'll make a much bigger meal.

"I'LL BE AS ROUND AS A PANCAKE THEN!"

The wolf agrees to the deal, but stealthily takes a shortcut to Bubbe's cottage. On the door there is a message from Bubbe' for Ruthie, saying she is shopping for a Hanukkah treat and will be back shortly. The wolf tries to door and, finding it unlocked, goes inside to wait for both of them to return, amusing himself while he waits by trying on Bubbe's best dresses. But Ruthie arrives before Bubbe and has to be both brave and clever. She offers to make the wolf some fine latkes as hors d'oeuvres before the feast. The wolf says he's too hungry to wait for her to fry the latkes in oil.

"SKIP THE FRYING!" HE GROWLS.

But Ruthie insists on telling the story about why the oil is the most important part of Hanukkah, and the ravenous wolf eats latkes as fast as little Ruthie can fry them up. In fact, by the time Bubbe returns, the wolf is no longer hungry at all.

In fact, he's feeling quite BARFY!

Notice: No little girls or innocent grandmothers are harmed in Gloria Koster's jolly holiday parody of the Little Red Riding Hood tale, Little Red Ruthie: A Hanukkah Tale (Albert Whitman).

This lighthearted spoof of the popular Red Riding Hood trope lends itself well to the story of Hanukkah and the reason latkes are the festive food for this holiday. Jolly illustrations by Sue Eastland extend the droll text with great good humor in which even the wolf is funny. For sophisticated primary students who know their December celebrations, share this one with Eric Kimmel's and Trina Schart Hyman's Caldecott-winning Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins: 25th Anniversary Edition. And for more tasty Hanukkah stories for the season, here's a virtual platter from which you can help yourself to all you want here.

OY! WayToo Many Latkes: A Hanukkah Story in Chelm by Linda Glaser

Everyone in Chelm agrees that when it comes to latkes for Hanukkah, Faigel makes the best in her village. But this year, Faigel can't remember her special recipe! Her husband comes in with a big basket of fresh potatoes. Even he knows she needs potatoes to make latkes.

"BUT HOW MANY?" MOANED FAIGEL.

I'LL ASK THE RABBI," SAID SHMUEL.

"WHAT DOES A RABBI KNOW? BUBKES! NOTHING!" WAILED FAIGLE.

"HE IS THE WISEST MAN IN CHELM," INSISTED SHMUEL.

The rabbi of Chelm's stomach is already rumbling at the thought of crispy Hanukkah latkes when Shmuel arrives with his question: How many potatoes does Faigel need for her latkes?

"ALL OF THEM!" PRONOUNCED THE RABBI. "THAT'S WHAT POTATOES ARE FOR AT HANUKKAH!"

"YOU ARE SO WISE" SAID SHMUEL.

Soon Faigel has peeled and grated the whole batch of potatoes. Now she needs chopped onions. But how many for such a lot of potatoes?

Back goes Shmuel to ask the wise Rabbi, who says she should chop all she's got. On Hanukkah, onions are meant for latkes. Weeping from the onions, Faigel chops and chops. But now Faigel has no idea how many eggs she needs to mix in this huge batch of latkes.

"HOW MANY HAVE YOU GOT?" THE RABBI SAID.

Shmuel can hardly believe what the Rabbi is saying, but back he goes, and Faigel mixes and stirs and begins to fry up latkes. Soon she's up to her eyebrows in delicious golden cakes. But how can Faigel and Shmuel EAT so many? They only have two mouths, you know. Back to the Rabbi's house goes Shmuel.

"THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TOO MANY LATKES!" CRIES THE RABBI. "YOU NEED MORE MOUTHS!

And the rabbi calls out the whole village of Chelm, mouths and all, and along with the wisest of rabbis, nobody's stomach is grumbling that day as they finish off Faigel and Shmuel's latkes together.

And on Hanukkah, that's what mouths are for, in Linda Glaser's comic tale of the famous foolish people of Chelm, in her Way Too Many Latkes: A Hanukkah in Chelm (KAR-BEN Books). Humorously and deliciously illustrated by Aleksandar Zolotic, in elaborate and charming scenes of manic cookery, this story of too much of a good thing is a tasty treat for the holiday season, one that makes even people who've never had a latke long for one--or more. Share this one with Tomie de Paola's similarly-themed and delightful noodle tale, of the foolish helper who tries out the magic pasta pot and happily fills his little town with pasta for everyone, Strega Nona.

Every Week On Wednesday Night: Our Little Kitchen by Jillian Tamaki

EVERY WEDNESDAY WE COME TOGETHER IN THIS LITTLE KITCHEN.

The cooks are a random crew, a curly-haired kid and his mom, a chubby lady with an apron and a determined look, a tall man setting up a huge coffee pot are there for their weekly job in a small community kitchen. As more helpers come in, carrying assorted foodstuffs, the volunteers begin to forage through the fridge, finding carrots formerly overlooked, ten leftover radishes, while others peel potatoes, rummage up some celery to chop, and a team culls the garden, grabbing the lettuce that the bugs missed, picking some ripe zucchinis and tomatoes of all sizes and shapes. And then there are the donated items from the back of the pantry--

BEANS FROM A FOOD BANK? THIRD WEEK IN A ROW?

I'M OUT OF IDEAS! WHAT ABOUT YOU?

BUT IT'S WHAT WE'VE GOT. WE'LL USE THEM SOMEHOW.

There are three bags of apples, some with bad spots, but the rest are still good, so the baker cuts the good parts up and tosses them into the baking pan. She stirs together some sugar and cinnamon with some oatmeal, and yes, there's plenty of butter in the refrigerator, and the apple crisp is soon in the oven, smelling heavenly. The beans are in a bubbling cauldron of chili. The salad is tossed, and the coffee urn is perking.

Day-old loaves from the bakery are warmed to freshen them--just as good as new!

SIZZLE, CHOP! CHOP! SPRINKLE! SLICE! PICK! PEEL!

Now we're cookin'!

And as the early-bird diners begin to wander in, setting up the chairs and tables and catching up on their week while they cop a cup of steaming coffee, it all comes together for a feast of friendship, in the Caldecott-winning author-illustrator Julian Tamaki's latest, Our Little Kitchen (Abrams Books, 2020).

Like the famous loaves and fishes, like the beloved Stone Soup of folklore fame, the food comes together, abundant enough each week to feed everyone, with leftovers for the still hungry, in the little community kitchen pictured so piquantly in Tamaki's heartwarming story. Her energetic art fills the pages with movement as the diverse volunteer crew bustles about, each one pitching in to do what they can in a beautiful story of community affection and effort. As Horn Book's starred review says, "A sense of effervescent improvisation pervades the tale, through its cookery detail and the text’s rhythm and design... Exudes vibrancy, warmth, individuality, and purpose."

And There Were Shepherds: Nativity by Cynthia Rylant

FOR UNTO YOU THIS DAY IS BORN A SAVIOR.

YOU SHALL FIND THE BABE LYING IN A MANGER.

In those two incongruent sentences, Cynthia Rylant's Nativity (Beach Lane Books), opens with words from the gospels of Mathew and Luke, a revelation made, not to mighty rulers and priests, but to simple shepherds tending sheep, an event not taking place in the grandeur of a palace, but in a stable.

In the graceful and timeless words of two disciples, the simple story of the nativity is told as translated to English five centuries ago, illustrated in striking faux naif style by the noted author with her own illustrations, the people small on the opening pages and moving in closer to the scene in the stable, witnessed on that night only by the shepherds, their sheep, a horse, and a single hen. The three kings are yet to be come, and the night is still and quiet.

MARY KEPT THESE THESE THINGS AND PONDERED THEM IN HER HEART.

And then the author shifts the scene to a later time where a multitude is gathered before a small mount, when they hear familiar words.

BLESSED ARE THE POOR.... BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART....

In paintings like those of a small child, the old story is told in this simple account of the nativity by Rylant, award-winning storyteller, in a companion book to her earlier Creation. In their starred review, Publishers Weekly advises, "The decision to pair the Nativity story with the beatitudes is a wise and profound one, quietly helping Christian readers connect Jesus’s birth with the messages of kindness, humility, and compassion he would later preach."

Undercover Knight: Attack of the Underwear Dragon by Scott Rothman

Cole had always wanted to be an assistant to Sir Percival. So he wrote a letter of application.

DEAR SIR PERCIVAL, I WOULD MAKE A GREAT ASSISTANT KNIGHT BECAUSE I AM SMART, I WORK HARD AND I PROMISE TO LEARN WHATEVER I DON'T KNOW.

PLEASE GIVE ME A SHOT.

Cole's letter moves Sir Percival to tears--which was really not all that hard, since Sir Percival cried when he peeled onions, when his feelings were hurt by callous wizards, and especially when he had to fight the Underwear Dragon.

But he hires Cole, who undergoes strenuous training. He has to learn how to to ride a charger (and fall off one), how to sharpen Sir Percival's swords, spears, and pencils, and how to sooth Sir Percy when he has nightmares about facing the Underwear Dragon. He has to master knightly courage when he is knocked off a horse...,

... KNOCKED OUT BY A PRINCESS, KNOCKED DOWN BY A KNIGHT, AND KNOCKED OUT BY A CATAPULT.

At last Cole is knighted by his hero, Sir Percival, and only just in time.

The Underwear Dragon, wearing impeccable whitey tighties, appears and destroys the whole kingdom and defeats all the knights--even the (sometimes) gallant Sir Percival.

Cole is the last man standing! The Underwear Dragon is prepared to eat him up!

BUT COLE REMEMBERED EVERYTHING HE HAD LEARNED!

Cole loaded his catapult and knocked the pants off the Underwear Dragon, who became the Embarrassed Bare-Naked Dragon and flew away forever.

It's happy ever after in the court of King Arthur, in Scott Rothman's Attack of the Underwear Dragon (Random House, 2020), a new tale in the comic mode of the bungling knight and his courageous young squire, illustrated humorously by Pete Oswald, the noted illustrator of Jory Johns' humorous hits, The Good Egg, The Couch Potato, The Bad Seed, and other comic treats. (see reviews here.)