I love the book "Sammy Spider's First Hannukkah". I especially love the characters, the setting and the illustrations. The characters are animals, but have similar relationships with each other as a son and mother. The mother tries to comfort her son when he is sad that he is different from the family. I also love the setting. The book takes place from the point of view of the spiders, above the table, over the candles, from the corner of the room. The book would not be the same if the characters were not spiders living in a Jewish family's house. Lastly, I love the illustrations. The technique looks similar Eric Carle's style. This style creates a whimsical atmosphere in the book. This book is a great introduction to talking about different cultures and religions. The big idea is that different people celebrate different holidays, but we can all be together during them.

I completely adored this book. The first reason I loved this book is for its skillful use of text placement. Throughout the book, there are pages where text is placed on the pages in the typical format, running left to right, line after line. However, on other pages, the text is scattered around the page, outlining and weaving through the illustrations. This makes the reader’s eyes dance around the page and, for children, makes the pages more fun and interesting to look at. This can also show children how to read text when it is not placed on the page in a typical fashion. I also liked this book for its connection between the text and illustrations. Each time another candle was lit on the menorah, the son in the story received another dreidel, each a different color. As the color changed, each page showed the different colored dreidel and, right next to the spinning toy, was the name of the color, written in the color of the dreidel. This helps the reader better understand what they are reading, and makes the book more interactive and eye catching, Overall, the big idea of the book is to educate children on some traditions of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah. Children reading the book may know of the word dreidel, but not necessarily know what it looks like or what it is used for. This book enlightens the reader on both of those aspects and other traditions such as eating latkes, lighting the candles of the menorah, and giving a gift one each of the eight each day of Hanukkah. ( )

After watching the Shapiro family celebrate Hanukkah, Sammy Spider finds that in the end he gets to share the holiday with them. This book is for young children preschool to 6 years old.

Teaches colors and numbers from 1 to 8 and a little bit about Hanukkah and the fact that spiders are not Jewish and hence do not observe the holiday. Although, finally Sammy has the chance to spin dreidels his own way. A bit long to read aloud to young children. Getting them to repeat the refrain for each day helps. The illustrations are nice and colorful. Using rose and red as two of the eight colors seems a bit of a stretch. Presents are minimal and more emphasis on the rituals of the holiday than its history or meaning, so acceptable to any level of observance. ( )