Tami Lehman-Wilzig gives read­ers a ter­rif­ic overview of the his­to­ry and obser­vance of Hanukkah, includ­ing a glimpse into hol­i­day cel­e­bra­tions in Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ties in many parts of the world. Her expla­na­tion of the ori­gin of the hol­i­day is care­ful to give pri­ma­cy to the mir­a­cle of the Mac­cabees’ mil­i­tary vic­to­ry, while still includ­ing the famil­iar sto­ry of the mir­a­cle of the oil. Intro­duc­to­ry mate­r­i­al includes the ori­gin of and rules for play­ing drei­del, dis­cus­sion of var­i­ous cus­toms regard­ing light­ing the can­dles, and the infor­ma­tion about the Scroll of Anti­ochus. Sec­tions about fic­tion­al chil­dren in the US and Israel accom­pa­ny those about chil­dren in Turkey, Uzbek­istan, Italy, Aus­tralia, Poland, and Tunisia. Each sec­tion includes a relat­ed recipe and a brief his­to­ry of that Jew­ish com­mu­ni­ty. A glos­sary is includ­ed. Vic­ki Wehrman’s beau­ti­ful maps and illus­tra­tions are wor­thy com­pan­ions to the infor­ma­tive, acces­si­ble text. For ages 7 – 10.