Amazon.com Amazon.com Review (ISBN 0590217070, Paperback)

While everyone else in the house prepares for Hanukkah, Jacob wants nothing but to play with his new brass dreidel. When he is sent to fetch water, he accidentally sends his dreidel into the well. Little does Jacob know that a good-willed, if mischievous, goblin lives at the bottom of the well, and that he will then receive a few special gifts. This re-telling of the old tale "The Tablecloth, the Donkey, and the Stick" in a Hanukkah setting shows that sometimes honest boys don't need magic dreidels to spin some magic of their own!

Katya Krenina's illustrations evoke the liveliness of the holiday as well as the rustic settings of Jacob and his family. She brings subtle warmth into the winter season, even stripping a fantastical goblin of any eeriness that might be associated with it. Eric Kimmel's clean, clear writing makes The Magic Dreidels a wonderful selection for bedtime stories as the days get shorter.