Happy Day-After-Thanksgiving Perfect Picture Book Friday, everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful day yesterday, filled with loved ones, and pie, and gratitude, and pie, and happy homes (yours or one you traveled to), and pie, and good health, and pie, and a little extra gratitude just for pie 😊

Today’s perfect picture book is not about pie, but you can read it while you eat pie if you’d like to 😊 You can also eat pie while you’re working on your entry for the Holiday Writing Contest if you haven’t finished writing yours yet 😊

But, now! Have you ever seen a cuter dreidel?

Title: Little Dreidel Learns To Spin

Written By: Rebecca Gardyn Levington

Illustrated By: Taryn Johnson

Publisher: Scholastic/Cartwheel, fiction, Sept. 3, 2024

Suitable For Ages: 4-8

Themes/Topics: Jewish traditions and holidays (Hanukkah), perseverance and patience when learning a new skill, Yiddish language, family (grandparents/cousins)

text copyright Rebecca Gardyn Levington 2024, illustration copyright Taryn Johnson 2024, Scholastic/Cartwheel

Opening:

“Little Dreidel, made of clay, at last is dry and ready!
She wants to whirl and swirly-spin, but she’s a bit…
unsteady!”

Brief Synopsis: Little Dreidel, made of clay, at last is dry and ready…for Hanukkah! She can’t wait to spiral-swivel-swirl with her older cousins, but she’s a bit whoa-WHOA-wobbly! Oy vey! With practice, persistence (and a whole lot of momentum!), LITTLE DREIDEL LEARNS TO SPIN — giving her family plenty to kvell about.

LITTLE DREIDEL LEARNS TO SPIN is a rhyming Hanukkah picture book about perseverance and having a growth mindset when learning a new skill. To add to the fun and authenticity, Yiddish words are sprinkled throughout, with a glossary and pronunciation guide in the back matter.

text copyright Rebecca Gardyn Levington 2024, illustration copyright Taryn Johnson 2024, Scholastic/Cartwheel

Links To Resources: Author Rebecca Levington kindly supplied these wonderful resources!

In ancient times, Jewish children were forbidden to read and study the Torah (the Hebrew Bible). So, whenever soliders came by, the children secretly hid their Torahs and pretended they were playing with toy tops! Voila! The dreidel came was born!

These days, playing dreidel is one of the traditions kids most look forward to on Hanukkah (especially when they win lots of “gelt” or chocolate coins!). Want to learn? Check out: https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/how-to-play-dreidel/

And if you want to know how to get a dreidel to spin the longest, use science to your advantage! Check out this video from Scientific American, “Spincredible Dreidel Tips and Tricks”: https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/spincredible-dreidel-tips-and-tricks/

Why I Like This Book: This delightful story manages to combine a little education about dreidels and Hanukkah with a cute, likable, sympathetic character (the dreidel) who struggles with not being as able as the older kids, while providing a model of perseverance, all in fun-to-read, perfect rhyme! What’s not to love? A little Yiddish is mixed in and there’s a glossary at the back (in case you don’t know what a ketzeleh is, among other things 😊) Any child who has ever wished s/he could do things like the big kids will relate, and any child who is under the mistaken impression that all skills are easily attainable will see that we all have to practice if we want to master something. A great read for the holidays that has enough layers to make it a great read any time!

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do 😊

For the complete list of books with resources, please visit Perfect Picture Books.

PPBF folks, please add your titles and post-specific blog links (and any other info you feel like filling out 😊) to the form below so we can all come see what fabulous picture books you’ve chosen to share this week!

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! 😊