BLOG TOUR: The Night Before Hanukkah by Natasha Wing
ABOUT THE BOOK
The newest title in the bestselling Night Before series is the perfect gift for every girl and boy who celebrates Hanukkah!
It's the night before the eight-day celebration of Hanukkah begins, and everyone is excited! Each evening, the family gathers to light the candles and share holiday traditions such as playing dreidel, eating latkes, and exchanging gifts. The seventeenth title in Natasha Wing's bestselling series, The Night Before Hanukkah captures all the joy and love in one of the most wonderful times of the year!
Natasha Wing has published 22 children's books, with more in the works. She is best known for her paperback series based on the popular story, The Night Before Christmas. The stories are about families celebrating holidays and other big events in kids' lives such as the first day of school and losing a tooth. Her titles include The Night Before Easter, the original book in the series which was published in 1999, and The Night Before Kindergarten, which has sold more than 1.5 million copies and has regularly been on bestseller lists since its publication in 2001. This title is also a sticker book, part of a kindergarten gift set, and an ebook. Her newest Night Before book is The Night before Hanukkah was released October 2.
Wing's multicultural book, Jalapeno Bagels, is a favorite among elementary school teachers and students. the story is based on a real bakery in Arcata, California and includes recipes from the bakery. It is a multicultural book with a mixed family that is Jewish and Mexican. It is dedicated to Los Bagels and Lender's Bagels. (Natasha grew up behind Marvin Lender whose father founded Lender's Bagels.)
An Eye for Color: The Story of Josef Albers is about a neighbor of hers when she was growing up in Connecticut. The artist of the "Homage to the Square" paintings studied color for 25 years and changed how teachers taught color.
Several of her poems appear in anthologies, and she has also written articles for children's magazines such as Highlights and Babybug.
Natasha now lives in Fort Collins, Colorado with her husband, Dan, and cat, Purrsia. She collects squished pennies and old toasters, and loves dark chocolate and champagne.
REVIEW
The Night Before Hanukkah is a cute addition to a series that introduces children to holidays. The book was informative and interesting and the little girl and her brother are adorable. The size of the book makes it most appropriate for sharing one on one. The only problem I had with the book was the awkwardness of some words in the poem. One thing I've learned as I've shared poetry with children out loud is that rhythm is almost more important than rhyming. And certain words even when they fit inside the poem and are not intended to rhyme can lead to the poem being much less smooth sounding and unfortunately that happens here. It's not a huge problem, just that it takes more work to read out loud in a smooth, flowing way. But children are bound to enjoy learning about the holiday in such a kid friendly way. A nice addition to a nice series that highlights different holidays.
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