I was walking to the library with my two youngest kids on a brisk evening in December when one of them noticed a bus nearby that said “Happy Holidays” below the route number on the destination indicator. “Why not Merry Christmas?” one kid wanted to know.

I described as many of the holidays I could think of that happen at this time of year, and realized we needed a little education around the topic. So while we were at the library I picked up a couple of books on Hanukkah to get us started.

This year, Hanukkah starts Wednesday, December 25, 2024 and ends at nightfall on Thursday, January 2, 2025. I’ve given you a little head start if you want to check these books out before the holiday begins.

Hanukkah, Here I Come!, by D.J. Steinberg, ill. by Sara Palacios

I liked the diverse cast of characters in the cute, colorful illustrations, but the rhyming text was cheesy and lame. Maybe I didn’t like it because it was for a younger audience, and my kids were between six and twelve years old when we read it. That said, you can tell a fun, energetic story like this one without resorting to painstakingly pacing your syllables to make sure the rhymes (sort of) work.

The other major shortcoming of the book is its description of the religious significance of Hanukkah. The retelling of the ancient story was oversimplified, annoyingly silly, and confusing.

The book’s strength is that it does a great job of describing holiday preparations and family traditions around Hanukkah. There’s a really sweet interaction between the grandpa and one of the grandkids in the story which reminded me of stories of my own grandpa “testing for poison” when there were freshly baked cookies in the kitchen.

We’ve all had a friendly disagreement with someone about which food traditions are the best – ways of preparing sweet potatoes comes mind – as well as the use of certain condiments (mayonnaise, I’m looking at you). The book has one of these specific to Hanukkah. In spite of the silly rhymes, the way it was described made us smile and the kids were quick to call out what side they would take in the dispute.

The reason we needed that first book is that it tees us up for the second, and my favorite:

The Eight Knights of Hanukkah, by Leslie Kimmelman, ill. by Galia Bernstein.

The premise of this book is ridiculous – you can tell this from the front cover – but this tongue-in-cheek treatment of Hanukkah was wonderful. We all enjoyed it even more because we already had the background of the holiday fleshed out in the other book.

This book’s description of the religious significance of Hanukkah makes much more sense. It provides a more detailed story and does a better job of describing the miracle of the candles burning for eight nights on one night’s worth of oil. The Eight Knights also goes into the collective meaning of the symbols on the dreidel and puts it in its religious context. It does all this without getting weird or boring. Major points to the author for thoughtfully including this info without losing the interest of the audience.

The characters in this book are diverse in appearance – but they also have different personalities and gifts, which makes the story even better, because there is room for everyone’s contribution. The illustrations make this humorous story even more entertaining, and while the kids enjoyed both books, this was definitely everyone’s favorite.

The first words I heard when I stopped reading were, “Can we celebrate Hanukkah next year?”