Hor­ton the ele­phant, pro­tec­tor of Whoville, deserves a cel­e­bra­tion. In Dr. Seuss’s clas­sic sto­ry, he comes across a minia­ture species in the Jun­gle of Nool, and he stands up for them when dan­ger lurks. In Hor­ton­Hatch­es the Egg, Hor­ton refus­es to leave a vul­ner­a­ble crea­ture aban­doned by a lazy bird who prefers Palm Beach to par­ent­hood. Read­ers will be delight­ed to join Horton’s Hanukkah cel­e­bra­tion in Leslie Kim­mel­man and Tom Brannon’s new pic­ture book about the Fes­ti­val of Lights.

Col­or­ful end­pa­pers offer famil­iar images of the hol­i­day: shin­ing can­dles, gelt cov­ered in gold foil, and drei­dels dis­play­ing the Hebrew let­ters that sum­ma­rize the well-known mir­a­cle. Cap­tur­ing the essence of Dr. Seuss’s ver­bal and visu­al styles, Kim­mel­man and Bran­non intro­duce Hor­ton in a cozy snowy envi­ron­ment. Hear­ing music, Hor­ton resolves to locate its source, but is mocked by his jun­gle com­pan­ions for imag­in­ing a cho­rus of small voic­es. This

deri­sion makes Hor­ton sad, but only momen­tar­i­ly. When the snow turns to rain, and a deli­cious smell wafts in his direc­tion, Hor­ton solves the mys­tery. The Whoville rab­bi, sur­round­ed by his com­mu­ni­ty, explains that Hanukkah com­mem­o­rates the ​“free­dom to pray in our own way,” and then the par­ty begins.

Along with light­ing the hanukki­ahs (meno­rah), the res­i­dents of Whoville enjoy soup, latkes, and spin­ning drei­dels. Illus­tra­tions also show the Whos cre­at­ing drei­dels from acorns and watch­ing a bird kin­dle the lights of a meno­rah craft­ed from branch­es. Oth­er Seuss-like crea­tures join the fun, includ­ing mon­keys who use peanuts as gelt, and a moth­er and child kan­ga­roo who share a plat­ter of fried food. The cel­e­bra­tion is pure­ly joy­ful, with an acces­si­ble after­word pro­vid­ing the his­tor­i­cal con­text of the Mac­cabees’ fight for freedom.

As Dr. Seuss sum­ma­rized the uni­ver­sal right to free­dom, ​“A person’s a per­son no mat­ter how small.” The Jews of Whoville prove that truth in this live­ly sto­ry, where a beloved char­ac­ter from a children’s clas­sic appears in a nov­el set­ting. Hor­ton Hears a Hanukkah Par­ty! is high­ly recommended.