Chil­dren’s

Clif­ford Cel­e­brates Hanukkah

Nor­man Bridwell
  • Review
By – June 22, 2016

Clif­ford tru­ly gets around his neigh­bor­hood. This time, Emi­ly Eliz­a­beth and he are invit­ed to a school friend’s home for a Hanukkah cel­e­bra­tion. Brid­well accu­rate­ly describes in an orga­nized and play­ful man­ner the ele­ments nec­es­sary to cre­ate Hanukkah in the home. Emi­ly Eliz­a­beth and Clif­ford are intro­duced to latkes, drei­dels, and the mir­a­cle of the oil. The word meno­rah is used instead of hanukki­ah, although what is pic­tured in the illus­tra­tion is a hanukki­ah. In a home or class­room sit­u­a­tion, this dif­fer­ence should be not­ed and explained to the child or children. 

As games are played, fam­i­ly fes­tiv­i­ties and food is enjoyed and all join in the com­mu­ni­ty can­dle light­ing, where of course, Clif­ford saves the day. 

The book clear­ly suc­ceeds by intro­duc­ing Hanukkah and mak­ing the key facts eas­i­ly acces­si­ble for all ages. Clif­ford, as the rec­og­niz­able and lov­ing, friend­ly pup, will cer­tain­ly please young read­ers who fol­low his antics. 

The illus­tra­tions are clear, bright and descrip­tive, offer­ing par­ents and edu­ca­tors a valu­able entry point from which ques­tions and con­ver­sa­tions can be generated.

The book is excel­lent for ear­ly child­hood edu­ca­tion pro­grams, begin­ning read­ers and as a resource for hol­i­days and instill­ing dif­fer­ing cul­tur­al prac­tices. Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 16.


Relat­ed Content:

Chris­tine Maas­dam holds a Mas­ters in Human­i­ties, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in Muse­um Stud­ies and Cul­tur­al Prop­er­ty Pro­tec­tion. She is cur­rent­ly com­plet­ing her M.L.I.S. Her inter­ests are phi­los­o­phy and the impact of art and tech­nol­o­gy on culture.

Discussion Questions