For one family the traditional Hanukkah celebration has a deeper meaning. Amidst the food and the festivities, Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose begin their story -- the one they tell each year. They pass on to each generation a tale of perseverance during the darkest hours of the Holocaust, and the strength it took to continue to honor Hanukkah in the only way they could. Their story reaffirms the values of tradition and family, but also shows us that by continuing to honor the tragedies and the triumphs of the past there will always be hope for the future.

Don't read in ECP

This book is perhaps one of the best books I've ever all semester. The tone and word choice of the author really emits emotion and softness. There is foreshadow early in the story when Great Aunt Rose was crying. The girl's grandma recalls her time at the concentration camp at Buchenwald in Germany. The horror stories are retold in a way that children can understand. It is a family tradition using a hollow potato to light for Hannukah because it correlates with the Grandma's history. Great Aunt Rose's hysterical reaction really lets readers understand the severity of it. Rose had no courage to give to her sister but "You held me up," Grandma said. The raw potato was more delicious than candy, let's us know that they were starved and always hungry. I loved how the illustrator placed the potato next to the menorah. "The candle light lifted to the stars and in that moment we were also lifted to the stars." Such a beautiful way to end the story with hope and kindness. ( )

Heartwarming. ( )

This is a book about a family celebrating Hanukkah together. There's food and traditions and togetherness. In the middle of the book, after they eat dinner, Grandma starts to hollow out a potato while she tells the family "about the bad times." They "know this story by heart, but...want to hear it again. To us, this story is Hanukkah." Grandma tells about how her family was sent to a German concentration camp during the Holocaust. She talks about what she and her sister went through at the camp. Grandma tells the family that she worked in the kitchen. She and her sister snuck small food items out of the kitchen on Hanukkah. She and some other girls and women hollowed out a potato after she returned unnoticed and safe to the barracks. They filled the potato with some butter from the kitchen and a string from a skirt and they make a Hanukkah candle. And now, every year with her family on Hanukkah, she makes that same candle and places it next to the menorah. ( )