Bubba Brayna’s legendary latkes lure an unexpected visitor into her home in this playful Hanukkah tale from a master storyteller.

When he smells the delicious odor of latkes frying, a formerly hibernating bear heads to the home of Bubba Brayna, an elderly woman whose near blindness and deafness lead her to believe that her ursine visitor is actually the village rabbi come to call. The pair enjoy a visit, complete with feasting and games, before the bear heads back to his cave. When Bubba Brayna discovers her mistake, she is not displeased, happy to think the bear had a happy Hannukah as she sets out to make more latkes for the real rabbi and her other guests...

Published in 2013, Hanukkah Bear is a story that first saw print in 1988 in the pages of Cricket Magazine, before being published as a picture-book in 1990, under the title The Chanukkah Guest. According to the brief note on the colophon, this is a slightly revised version of that earlier tale, which was illustrated by Giora Carmi, and is paired in this new incarnation with the artwork of Mike Wohnoutka. The story itself is humorous and heartwarming, while the accompanying artwork is colorful and cute. Comparing the two picture-books, I find the Carmi illustrations a bit more appealing, but these still have charm. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for fun Hanukkah stories. ( )

Bubba Brayna is preparing for a special Hanukkah visit from the rabbi, when Bear wakes up from his winter sleep (at the wrong time of year, but oh well). Bubbe Brayna's eyesight is failing, so when Bear arrives at her door, she thinks he's the rabbi and welcomes him in. Bear eats all the latkes, and when the rabbi and other guests show up, they are all gone! The children see the bear tracks and figure out what has happened. After laughing at herself, Bubba Brayna instructs everyone to get potatoes from the cellar, and everyone helps make a fresh batch. Recipe included. ( )

I enjoyed this book for many reasons. I liked this book because of the comical tone to the book. I like how the author made it fun for the readers to read, it was funny to think that a 97 year old woman who can barely see or hear would let a bear into her home because she though the bear was her rabbi. The language was kind of mixed in this book because when the author wrote about bubba she was very descriptive including how she made her latkes and the way the old bear ate the latkes. The language was also not very descriptive or creative because all the old bear said was "GRR" or "GRAWWWLL". I thought that the plot of the story was organized very well with a clear beginning, middle and end. The suspense of the story I would say was when the Rabbi who Bubba thought had already came to her house told Bubba that he hadn't been to her house yet and was with the rest of the towns people all along. I was also interesting because the author kind of made it like a little mystery case for the townspeople and when they finally discovered it was a bear that had been to Bubba's they just laughed about it instead of being scared. I wasn't sure of the whole mural or idea of the book but I can guess that on a holiday like Hanukkah people should be willing to open their house to anyone and everyone should enjoy the activities, culture and food of the holiday together.

Adorable. Includes author's note and recipe for potato latkes. Kimmel's books are illustrated by a wide variety of artists - Wohnoutka is one I def. like. ( )