Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat Book Review

May I suggest eating latkes and not the book?

Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat: A Chanukah Story

By Naomi Howland

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as a board book, September, 2020

Review

Set in a small house on the edge of a forest, Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat tells the story of five children looking after themselves during the cold Hanukkah holidays. On the first night of Hanukkah, the children need firewood and the oldest child, the girl, goes into the forest. There, she finds an old woman struggling to collect firewood. When the girl gives the woman a sackful of firewood, the old woman returns the kindness by giving the girl a magical latke pan that will cook by itself. BUT, the girl is not to share the pan's secret. The girl and her brothers enjoy the pan's bounty for a week, but the boys decide to try out its magic for themselves when their sister is not around on the eighth night of Hanukkah. I'm sure you can guess what happens!  When latkes spill out their doors and almost engulf the town, the sister comes to their rescue, and the whole town has a Hanukkah feast. Warm, festive, funny, comfortingly predictable: Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat is a cozy story for any cold night.

The first thing that came up when we discussed this book was Big Anthony's pasta pot fiasco.* We both connected the boys in this story to Big Anthony; the unstoppable magic pot/pan is one of my favorite tropes. T also enjoys this story, especially predicting what will happen. Following in the footsteps of traditional literature where the good are rewarded and the foolish punished, this delightful story fulfills expectations with warmth, humor, and a happy ending.

I'm pleased to see such a lovely, detailed story come out for the youngest readers (this format is a board book). We are in the process of emptying our shelves of most board books, as so many have one sentence per page and no longer fit our needs. Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat, though, is better suited to the picture book section. Side note: Once T can read them, away they go. How do you weed out your child's books?

Afterthought: If you are wondering why I'm posting this review now: We had sought out Latkes, Latkes, Good to Eat as part of our Hanukkah reading list. Although it arrived after the holiday, there's no reason not to read it anytime.

*Strega Nona, by Tomie dePaolo

Note: A review copy was provided upon request for the purpose of an honest review.