The Hanukkah Mice

by Ronne Randall, Maggie Kneen (Illustrator)

In the tradition of the best-selling The Christmas Surprise and The Golden Egg comes this sweet story of the Hanukkah mice. With flaps hiding shiny foil suprises, readers will find a different Hanukkah tradition on each page, until the very end when they finally discover the beautiful menorah, with all eight candles burning bright.

Genres: Picture Books, Jewish, Childrens, Storytime, Holiday, Animals

20 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2002

About the author

Ronne Randall has been editing and writing children's books since the 1980s, and has published more than 130 titles on both sides of the Atlantic. Ronne was born and raised in New York City, now permanently resident in the UK. Her interests include art, psychology and folklore.

Reviews

[Miriam]

At this point in the year of our lord 2024, books about small main characters - whether they be rodents or forest creatures or inexplicably tiny people - are everywhere. It's a thing. It's fine.

But one of the charms of this "tiny MC" genre is seeing how they repurpose big things for little purposes. Like in When Mindy Saved Hanukkah, the family of tiny people repurpose a Hanukkah candle by melting it down to make tons of little Hanukkah candles, or use a paper clip as a grappling hook.

All this to say The Hanukkah Mice aggressively does not go in this direction. Marty, Milly, and whatever-the-last-one-is-called Mouse have a home with mouse-sized furniture, clothes, etc. with nary a repurposed human button in sight.

Ok, sure, whatever, missed opportunity for creativity but not criminal.

What is a missed opportunity is that these mouse-sized mice also have MOUSE-SIZED APPLES in their mouse home.

HOW. HOW I ASK YOU.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute! One of my favorite Hanukkah stories, great for little ones with the "peek-a-boo" flaps and adorable mice.

[Kim Bookman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!!! Read to a kindergarten class today and they loved it!!

[Erin Reda · Rating 4 out of 5]

The picture book The Hanukkah Mice is about a a mouse family that leaves their mouse hole and go up the basement stairs of the house they live in. It's the beginning an Hanukkah and Mr and Mrs. Silman and their daughter Rachel celebrate the first day of Hanukkah and light the first candle. Rachel gets to open her first Hanukkah gift and it's a big present, inside that present is a carved dollhouse. The mouse family see that Rachel got the dollhouse and think that it is the perfect size for them. Once Rachel fell asleep they explored the new doll house, as if it is their very own mouse house. The mouse think it would be better if the dollhouse had some furniture. On the second night of Hanukkah after Mr. Siman lite the second candle Rachel got to open her second gift. The gift was a chair with a stool for her dollhouse. The mice were happy because the dollhouse was starting to get some furniture in it. On the third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth night of Hanukkah Rachel got something for her dollhouse. The mouse family then celebrated their own holiday meal which was complete by the menorah that Rachel got as one of her gifts.

The book does a pretty good job of explaining the Hanukkah holiday in child friendly words and pictures. The book uses the most basic of parts of the Hanukkah holiday for children to be able to understand what it is and what they do for it. It talks about the lighting of the menorah and that the child gets one gift for each night of Hanukkah which is 8 nights long. The menorah is the symbolic item just like a Christmas tree is to most families.

The illustrations aren't that great, however I really like the color scheme and bright colors that are used. They are vibrant and stand out. Some of the page's illustrations are appealing to me, like the back cover page and one of the pages in the book that consists of the dollhouse and the mice. The mice in the book are depicted like actual character mice. However, the people in the story are very unrealistic looking and kind of creepy.

[Ariel Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Personal Reaction: This book was adorable and so much fun. I don't know much about Hanukkah so it was fun to read a little bit about the things they do during their tradition! The mice go around each night finding a new item for Hanukkah that is shiny or delicious smelling. This book is so great for teaching about the different religious that are celebrated at the same time as Christmas.

Independent Read: This book would be best for children who are not familiar with Hanukkah, I think. Around grade 2-3 because of the more complex sentences. It is great for kids to read about the different holidays that people celebrate around the world, and maybe even in their school!

Read aloud: This would be best during the winter months when we are learning about all the different holidays. It would be fun to read a passage a day and find our own "gifts" on each day like the mice do.

Literary Elements: This book has a little bit more complex sentences, but the words are simple and easy for children to understand and read. Using it in the classroom would not be difficult at all because it is a fun book to read and children could even guess what the mice find on each of the days.

This book was fun to read. It was cute and I know that I had no idea any of the items that go along with Hanukkah so it was fun to read about the things that go into it. Plus Mice are adorable.

[Dolly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entertaining story about Hanukkah, with sparkly pages and simple descriptions of the various ways in which the holiday is celebrated. The illustrations are cute and the fold out pages are sure to be a hit with younger children. We've read this one a couple of times and it's fun to look at all the sparkly decorations.

[Ellenjsmellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Hanukah book to read with my kids.

[Kate Hastings · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lift-the-flap fun.