Latkes And Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story - Softcover

FRAN MANUSHKIN is the author of many books for children, including Baby, Come Out!, which has been translated into eight languages. She lives in New York City.

A blizzard leaves a peasant family housebound at Hanukkah with the potatoes for latkes buried under the snowdrifts. There are no apples for applesauce, either, since the harvest was poor. But when the family takes in first a stray cat and later a stray dog, the two animals return the favor. On the eighth night of celebration, when the storm finally clears and the nearly starving group ventures out, the dog digs potatoes and the cat mews in the apple tree where apples are miraculously now hanging. Curious children may well ask why the family didn't prepare by digging potatoes before the holiday. Nevertheless, this gentle story is well served by Spowart's earth-toned chalk illustrations that depict the family in rounded shapes with an economy of detail. An end note explains the holiday and gives directions for playing dreidel and an elaborate recipe for latkes.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.