1 Final Book for Hanukkah

The Miracle Jar: A Hanukkah Story 

Written by Audrey Penn

Illustrated by Lea Lyon

Published by Tanglewood Publishing, 2010

Mom's Review
When a snow-bound family sees they lack cooking oil for one more night, the father recalls the story of one day's sacred oil lasting eight days. As it is the first night of Hanukkah, the children are inspired to bring about a similar miracle through conserving and reusing the cooking oil. Spoiler: they succeed after they think they have failed. Ostensibly the story of one family's Hanukkah, The Miracle Jar is more substantive than that. The implication that we must treasure what God has blessed us with, use resources wisely, and seek resolutions to our problems is what makes this lovely picture book a real treasure.

Son's Review
(Age: 5)

T talked a lot about the food, but not the story. He wants me to make pretty much everything that the family had, like fried potato sticks, doughnuts, and pancakes, but he can't decide which one he wants most. Maybe the doughnuts. Unfortunately, I won't be cooking everything, but I have assured him that we'll have fried dough before the year is out. Probably on New Year's Eve.

Note: A review copy was provided upon request for the purpose of this post.