In this rhyming picture book, a young narrator recounts his family's celebration of the Hanukkah holiday. He reveals his trepidation as a horde of family members descend on his house to celebrate, eat, and play. Their cat is terrorized by an aunt's dog, their grandfather plays practical jokes and tells unbelievable stories, their cousins whine and steal their new presents. Nonetheless, the pictures show that people are still having a good time, and the last page of the book reveals that the greatest miracle of all is that everyone is eager to do it again next year.

It's a cute story that portrays how one family might celebrate Hanukkah in modern times. Many of the verses refer to important artifacts or traditions associated with the holiday, like eating latkes and lighting the menorah and being as brave as the Maccabaeus. The illustrations are colorful and wild, nicely suiting the theme of a crazy family gathering. Sadly, many of the sentences are contorted to fit the rhyme pattern of AABCCB. This is a personal pet peeve of mine, when a writer sacrifices a natural and organic sentence purely for the sake of a rhyme. Other than that, the picture book is a pleasant story to read. With so many books about the origins and history of Hanukkah, it is nice to find a story that presents a contemporary scenario of celebrating the holiday today. ( )

I enjoyed reading “Eight Wild Nights,” a story about Hanukkah. Although my family does not celebrate Hanukkah, this story reminds me much of my family. In particular, the chaos and craziness their large family employs is exactly how my house is around the holidays. It made me laugh a lot because of all the things that went wrong. My favorite part was the comical, rhythmic language. Specifically, “My cousin who’s six has learned a few tricks. He gathers up all of the gelt! And hides it down far in an old VCR and waits for the chocolate to melt.” The illustration, too, identifies this verse while the little boy, with a devious look on his face, stares at the chocolate VCR. Another essential feature of this book is the “About Hanukkah” page in the very beginning. This page is separate from the comical story, informing readers what Hanukkah is and why it is celebrated. Overall, the main idea of this story is to present the Jewish experience of Hanukkah in a funny way for children to enjoy. ( )

This is a great book for introducing children to the Jewish culture and specifically the celebration of Hanukkah. It is a playful tale of a family and all of the chaos that they experience together throughout the Hanukkah events. The story is a weaving of humor and facts that give you informatio along the way. The drawings are colored pencil and they are very detailed and capture the emotions of all the characters very well. ( )

The wackiest Hanukkah story I read is Brian P. Cleary's Eight Wild Nights: A Family Hanukkah Tale. The rhymes it is written in, the characters depicted both in words and pictures and the story are all off-beat in a good way. On every page it introduces one or more new family members (in one case 17) as they enter the host family's little world. They are all loud and all sorts of wild, but children appropriate, events are happening. Don't despair though, in the midst of the great cavalcade the usual Hanukkah staples are eaten, games are played, ceremonies observed. By the end you are also treated to a genuine miracle that anyone can appreciate.

Without David Udovic's witty illustrations the book would be less than half the fun. They cover the whole pages and the 4-6 lines of text on each page are inserted into the pictures. This and the chaotic nature of the story make the book appealing beyond the 4-8 year olds it is created for

This rhyming story depicts a family celebration that includes: cleaning the house, inviting friends and neighbors, spills, a
new method of winning gelt, the miracle of toilet paper, a broken VCR, a scary side dish, presents that were not on the
wish list, donuts, singing, and finally quiet and calm. ( )