McMur­do Sta­tion in freez­ing Antarc­ti­ca is the unusu­al and inter­est­ing loca­tion for this true sto­ry of marine biol­o­gist Dr. David Gins­burg, who signs on for a five-month stint to research under­wa­ter ani­mals, par­tic­u­lar­ly sea urchins. He and a part­ner dive into the freez­ing waters, as the read­er fol­lows their under­wa­ter expe­ri­ences. This book pro­vides an excel­lent intro­duc­tion to the div­ing expe­ri­ence. While div­ing for sea urchins at the bot­tom of the frigid sea, Gins­burg fig­ures out how to bring Hanukkah to Antarc­ti­ca in a most unusu­al way, at the same time involv­ing his fel­low sci­en­tists in shar­ing both the cel­e­bra­tion and the sto­ry of Jew­ish sur­vival. The author’s after­ward is a fas­ci­nat­ing sci­en­tif­ic intro­duc­tion to sea urchins. David’s real pho­tographs illus­trate his sto­ry in a unique fash­ion. The set­ting and char­ac­ters are strik­ing, but the sto­ry line is a bit slow for younger chil­dren. The Hanukkah con­nec­tion paired with the unusu­al set­ting show­cas­es the ver­sa­til­i­ty of the children’s hol­i­day book genre. For ages 5 – 9.