Home for the Holidays: Looking for a good holiday read? Here’s what we recommend
Home for the Holidays Series: This year, local reporters and editors are using Thanksgiving week to share our favorite holiday traditions and recipes with you, our readers.
PETOSKEY — One of my fondest holiday memories growing up was my mom reading Hanukkah stories to my siblings and I by the light of our menorah candles.
We all sat quietly in our darkened living room as my mom pulled out tried and true favorites, like “Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins” or “Zigazak! A Magical Hanukkah Night” or “Latkes And Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story.”
I asked my mom to reflect on this holiday tradition recently, and she wrote that “Hanukkah is a holiday that allowed us quiet time together as a family as we all lit our menorahs and sat in a dark room and reflected on how lucky we are.
"The magic of the glowing flickering candles created a much-needed serenity in our very busy chaotic daily life. To add to this magical moment was our storytime — some were ‘religious’ in nature, explaining the importance of the Hanukkah miracle, and some were funny, like ‘Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins,’ and some made us think like ‘One Candle.’”
“One Candle” by Eve Bunting stands out the most to my mom. It tells the story of one family’s traditional Hanukkah celebration, as Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose recount how they managed to celebrate Hanukkah even amidst the horrors of a concentration camp.
“I found it important to read ‘One Candle’ every year because it brought such emotion,” my mom wrote. “Although we were lucky in that we did not have any close family members suffer in the Holocaust, this story reminded me of my Bubbie and the struggles she and every other Jew had living in the shtetls.
"The focus of the story recalls how two sisters imprisoned in Buchenwald struggled to stay alive and preserve their Jewish traditions. As Hanukkah approaches, one of the sisters risks her life to steal a potato, which they carved out to make a ‘menorah’ … In hiding, the sisters manage to light the ‘menorah’ and hang onto their traditions. The sisters managed to find light in spite of the darkness they were living in.”
Stories are often an important part of the holidays. If you’re looking for something for the whole family to enjoy together, here are some books recommended by local booksellers and librarians for the holiday and winter season:
Katie Boeckl, owner of Between the Covers in Harbor Springs
“My pick for best holiday book for the family for the 2022 season is called ‘The Lights that Dance in the Night’ by Yuval Zommer,” Boeckl said. “He is a British author and picture book illustrator and artist who does really gorgeous collage and found object and watercolor work.”
Boeckl selected the book is because it's "not holiday-focused necessarily and non-denominational, and it’s really an homage to the Northern Lights.”
“You get this beautiful rhyming and verse text about how the Northern Lights enter our atmosphere and it’s approachable for all ages. But then we see them kind of cascading over the Arctic, all of the various Arctic animals who are inspired by the light they bring,” she said.
“Then the human story of the Northern Lights and how they have inspired tales and legends over the course of time and civilization. So it all ends with a family being warmed on those dark winter nights by the dancing lights in the night. Really gorgeous, good for Yule and the solstice and all winter long.”
Katie Pionk, McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey
“I picked ‘The Night Before Christmas: The Classic Edition’ by Clement C. Moore,” said Pionk. “I picked this one just because (it's) a true classic. It transcends every generation, so it’s a really nice book that you can pass along through family."
Leah Wright, McLean and Eakin Booksellers in Petoskey
“I picked ‘The Mitten’ by Jan Brett,” Wright said. “It’s my favorite because I’m a big animal person and I love the illustrations in it and Jan Brett’s one of my favorites. I like the idea of them all fitting in a mitten that a kid dropped in the wintertime.”
"The Mitten" is a childhood favorite of Wright’s, who said “I remember it being read to me when I was in elementary school by our media center specialist.”
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“It’s kind of stuck with me since then,” she said. “It’s one of my favorites I like to sell around the wintertime and holiday time.”
Nisa Kesseler, tween/teen services librarian at the Petoskey District Library
“First of all, ‘A Christmas Carol’ (by Charles Dickens) is a classic. I love the classics. Also, I love a story of redemption,” Kesseler said of her pick.
“Scrooge starts off in a very dark place. He’s all alone because he has chosen a life where he is sadly isolated. But then he learns through some scary ghosts that that’s not the way to be. And he changes his life and it improves his life, improves the lives of people around him. It’s a feel-good holiday story, with some ghosts.”
— Contact editor Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Home for the Holidays: Looking for a good holiday read? Here’s what we recommend
