Dinosaur on Hanukkah

By Diane Levin Rauchwerger and Jason Wolff

This tale of a mischievous dinosaur who visits a boy on Hanukkah and causes a commotion as he helps celebrate the holiday will bring giggles to children who may recognize themselves (or their siblings!) in some of the dino’s exploits.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lerner Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781512488210

Diane Levin Rauchwerger

Diane Levin Rauchwerger (The Dinosaur on Hanukkah) is a children’s librarian as well as a synagogue librarian, where she runs a Jewish Mother Goose program using many of her own original songs and rhymes. She enjoys reading, hiking, quilting, photography, singing, and knitting. She and her husband have two grown children and live in Sunnyvale, CA.

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Reviews for Dinosaur on Hanukkah

[saracolvin-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this story because it is fun to read, but also discusses the Hanukkah traditions. I do not know much about Hanukkah, but after reading this book I know much more. For example they talk about presents, chocolate gelt, latkes, lighting the Shamash, and playing the dreidel game. The language the author uses made the story more enjoyable and easy flowing as well. Every other line in the story has a word at the end that rhymes. For example, “He helps me wrap some presents with ribbons and with bows. I have a special gift for him. I’m pretty sure he knows.” The story is about a dinosaur in the house enjoying Hanukkah traditions with the boy, so the rhyming words added to the silliness of the story. I felt having rhyming was appropriate and only enhanced the story. The other thing I enjoyed about the story was the illustrations. Every page is colorful and exciting to look at. I noticed that the boy has a yam mica on in every picture, which shows he is Jewish and enjoys his culture. Also, the dinosaur has a smile on his face in every picture, which tells you that this dinosaur is friendly and shows that the boy and him are friends. This made me enjoy the book more because I knew that it was two friends playing and having fun, which added to the upbeat mood as I was reading. The big idea of this story was to give people a dose of what Hanukkah is about in a friendly and fun way. It made learning about the holiday exciting and interesting in a playful way.