Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah by Susan Roth

Hanukkah, Oh Hanukkah has proven to be yet another one of my favorite books read so far, not just by Susan Roth, but collectively!  It is a poem/song put into a story book that illustrates the traditions of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah.  Students will hear about the menorah and candles, latkes, dreidels, a dance called the Hora, and treats given to children.

I think one of my favorite aspects of this book is that it is, in fact, a song.  Therefore, it reads poetically and draws you in to a mood of celebration.  When a song is divided into pages to form a book, particularly a song that is as short and simple as this one, there is so much meaning and story told through the illustrations.  Roth’s unique style of collage art that she seems to keep perfecting throughout her various works is on considerable display in this book.  The sheer number of different colors and materials used to create these illustrations is amazing to me.  Laces, denims, printed fabrics, textured papers, felts, fuzz; it is so artisticly creative and stylized… I believe I would recognize her work anywhere.  In this story, there is such a broad spectrum of colors used (bright and cheerful) that the reader cannot help but feel envious of these little mice who are so joyful in their celebration!   I truly felt like I was being invited in to the party 🙂  Although there are several details that are eye-catching and gorgeous in the backgrounds, toys, furniture, etc., I have to say that the mice are my favorite thing about the collages!  I counted; there are 85 mice faces in this book, and each face has 6 whiskers… that is an unbelievable 510 little whiskers that she cut out of paper!  And I truly believe that those whiskers MADE those illustrations what they are!  I love it!!

I also really liked Susan’s choice of a song for this book.  Although throughout her various works she is constantly using other sources of information, inspiration, and stories (even nonfiction), putting a song into a book appeals to me the most.  Music tells a story, especially music with lyrics that make a song.  Since songs tell a story, this one the story of a Hanukkah celebration, what better way to bring that story to life and make it even more meaningful!  Susan believes that inspiration can strike a writer at any time and in any place (Susan Roth PPT by Kerri Smith).  I think there are probably a lot of writers who use their own friends and family to inspire them.  I also wonder if perhaps she took pictures of her family participating in these activities (since she never goes anywhere without a camera!), and used them as models for her illustrations.  Since this portrays Susan’s family (it says that she thanks her grandchildren in order of appearance), I am assuming that she is Jewish and celebrates Hanukkah herself.  Even though I do not, I can relate to this, because I think if I were going to write a book, I would start with using my own family for inspiration as well!  Susan does a superb job of bringing this song to life and turning it into the story of a family and I would not have gotten the same interpretation from just hearing the song.

The first thing that comes to my mind for this book as far as classroom application (and it may be a little obvious, but it is still what I would do), is incorporating it into a study of multicultural holidays in December/November.  Not only would I use this as an interactive read aloud, but I would use it to introduce the holiday and then use the Internet to do further research so students could learn about the different candles and why one is lit each night; the background behind the dreidels, treats, and traditions.  I would arrange for students to taste latkes as well!  In addition, I would like to teach students this song and put motions to it, create so props, and put on a sort of “musical” that could be shared with other classes.  I hope I get the opportunity to do this next year!