Chil­dren’s

Gra­cie’s Night: A Hanukkah Story

Lynn Tay­lor Gor­don; Lau­ra Brown, illus.
  • Review
By – October 21, 2013

Gra­cie and her father don’t have mon­ey for lux­u­ries but Gra­cie takes a job at Macy’s short­ly before Hanukkah so she can buy her father some spe­cial gifts. On the way home, she pass­es a home­less man hud­dled inside a large car­ton and Gra­cie qui­et­ly leaves him the gifts of warm scarves, gloves, sweaters and boots know­ing that he needs them more than her father does. She knows that her father will under­stand and be very proud of what she has done and she knows he will enjoy the home­made gift she sub­sti­tutes in an even more spe­cial way. Told in rhyme, accom­pa­nied by large bright­ly col­ored dou­ble page spreads which evoke bygone New York City, and with an added sug­ges­tion for chil­dren to give up one Hanukkah gift to help some­one in need, this sweet sto­ry teach­es a gen­tle les­son and is rec­om­mend­ed for ages 6 – 11.

Michal Hoschan­der Malen is the edi­tor of Jew­ish Book Coun­cil’s young adult and children’s book reviews. A for­mer librar­i­an, she has lec­tured on top­ics relat­ing to lit­er­a­cy, run book clubs, and loves to read aloud to her grandchildren.

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