Sukkah is a great way to introduce kids to global religious holidays, as it is one that really captures their imagination, and they can easily wrap their head around it.

A class of preschool students wonders how to hang a watermelon in the sukkah.

All of the students in Miss Sharon's class bring in their favorite fruits in order to decorate the Sukkah - a temporary outdoor structure built by Jews to celebrate the festival of Sukkot, which commemorates their wandering in the desert after fleeing Egypt - in this engaging holiday story. Unfortunately, Michael's favorite - a watermelon - proves rather difficult to hang. Will he and his classmates find a way around this difficulty...?

Fortunately for everyone, since Michael's second-favorite fruit proves even more cumbersome (a pumpkin!), the answer is a resounding yes. I appreciated A Watermelon in the Sukkah, which pairs a simple story about children working together to find a solution to a problem, with colorful, cartoon-style artwork. Published by the Kar-Ben imprint of the Lerner Publishing Group, which specializes in Jewish children's books, this title is really intended more for children who already know what Sukkot is, rather than as an introduction to the holiday for those who don't. Recommended to anyone looking for entertaining, lighthearted Sukkot stories for the picture-book set. ( )