Too many words per page for a picture book. Condensed retelling of history and customs for a non-Jewish audience. You can tell because the book uses "they," not "we" and the pictures have the feel of many Bible story books. I have doubts about the history: I don't think one surprise attack made Antiochus' army go away. Like most children's histories of this holiday, it ignores the real internal conflicts and tensions. On the other hand, it does say that the most important part of the holiday is lighting the Hanukkah menorah. ( )

This explains the history of Chunuka going all the way back to capture of the Jewish lands by Alexander the Great. He let the Jewish people worship in peace, but later leaders would not, and they destroyed the temple. When the menorah was relit, there was only enough oil for one day- but it burned for eight! This gave some backstory I hadn't heard before. ( )