Eight Entertaining Reads for Hanukkah

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Hanukkah is here! Here are 8 fun books for kids and adults to celebrate the season.

KIDS:

How Do Dinosaurs Say Happy Chanukah? by Jane Yolen and Mark Teague. Illustrations and rhyming text present some of the different ways a well-behaved dinosaur can celebrate the eight days and nights of Chanukah. By the award-winning team behind the internationally best-selling How Do Dinosaurs…? series.

Meet the Latkes by Alan Silberberg. Lucy Latke’s family is a family of potato pancakes. After lighting the menorah and gobbling the gelt, Grandpa Latke tells everyone the Hanukkah story, but it’s up to the Latke family dog to set the record straight.

The Ninth Night of Hanukkah by Erica S. Perl. It’s Hanukkah, and Max and Rachel are excited to light the menorah in their family’s new apartment. Unfortunately, their Hanukkah box is missing! Luckily, their neighbors happily help, offering thoughtful, often humorous, stand-ins each night. Just as Hanukkah is nearly done, Max and Rachel, inspired by the shamash (‘helper’) candle, have a brilliant idea: to celebrate the Ninth Night of Hanukkah as a thank you to everyone!

The Golden Dreidel by Ellen Kushner. After receiving a one-of-a-kind Chanukah gift—an enormous golden dreidel—Sara discovers that there’s much more to the dreidel than meets the eye when she spins herself into a whole new world and must rely on her courage to find her way back home.

Chelm for the Holidays by by Valerie Estelle Frankel. Celebrating Jewish holidays has never been sillier than in Chelm, the Village of Fools! While the Chelmites try to solve problems—like outsmarting bees to get Rosh Hashanah honey, and keeping Hanukkah menorah candles lit without enough oil—their foolishness causes even more chaos.

ADULTS

Holiday by Candlelight by Laurel Greer. Is a Hanukkah miracle right around the corner? This year, Dr. Caleb Matsuda could do without holiday cheer. After an avalanche robbed him of his ability to practice surgery, he struggles to make it through each day. He may be intrigued by new colleague Garnet James, but she’s also a search-and-rescue volunteer who could be in danger at any moment. If only she wasn’t perfect for the man he used to be…

The Matzah Ball by Jean Meltzer. When her publisher insists that she write a Hanukkah romance, Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt, a Jewish woman with a secret career as a Christmas romance novelist, unexpectedly finds inspiration when she encounters a childhood acquaintance at the Matzah Ball, a Jewish music celebration on the last night of Hanukkah.

The Intimacy Experiment by Rosie Danan. The co-founder of a popular sex-education platform joins forces with a young rabbi who would save his cash-strapped synagogue to host a seminary series on modern intimacy. This book includes a thoughtful look at faith, and a romance featuring a rabbi!

Books With a Twist

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You’re going along, innocently reading your novel, when suddenly the earth shifts beneath you – an unexpected plot twist! You thought you were reading one thing, but suddenly everything you thought you knew goes out the window. If you love a book that surprises you, that turns you inside out and upside down, that makes you toss it down and say “what just happened?“, then we have some reading recommendations for you.

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie. In this classic with a kick, en people, each with something to hide, are invited to an isolated mansion on Indian Island by a host who, surprisingly, fails to appear. One by one, the guests reveal the darkest secrets of their wicked pasts. And one by one, they die…

The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. When you read this book, you will make many assumptions. You will assume you are reading about a jealous ex-wife. You will assume she is obsessed with her replacement – a beautiful, younger woman who is about to marry the man they both love. You will assume you know the anatomy of this tangled love triangle. Assume nothing. 

You Will Know Me by Megan Abbott. When a violent death rocks her close-knit gymnastics community weeks before an important competition, the mother of an Olympic hopeful works frantically to hold her family together in spite of being irresistibly drawn to the crime.

One of the Girls by Lucy Clarke. While on a sun-soaked Greek island for a bachelorette party to celebrate Lexi’s upcoming wedding, six very different women discover that someone is determined to make sure Lexi’s marriage never happens—and that one of them won’t leave the island alive.

Rock Paper Scissors by Alice Feeney. Every anniversary Adam and Amelia exchange traditional gifts–paper, cotton, pottery, tin–and each year Adam’s wife writes him a letter that she never lets him read. Until now. Ten years of marriage. Ten years of secrets. And an anniversary they will never forget.

The Girl From Widow Hills by Megan Miranda. Rendered famous in childhood for her miraculous survival of a dangerous storm, a young woman changes her name and struggles to hide from the media before waking up one evening to find a corpse at her feet. And then the fun begins.

Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough. The secretary of a successful psychiatrist is drawn into the seemingly picture-perfect life of her boss and his wife before discovering a complex web of controlling behaviors and secrets that gradually reveal profound and dangerous flaws in the couple’s relationship.

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels and his partner, Chuck Aule, come to Shutter Island’s Ashcliffe Hospital in search of an escaped mental patient, but uncover true wickedness as Ashcliffe’s mysterious patient treatments propel them to the brink of insanity. The basis for a motion picture directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson.

Without her husband’s knowledge, Christine, whose memory is damaged by a long-ago accident, is treated by a neurologist who helps her to remember her former self through journal entries until inconsistencies begin to emerge, raising disturbing questions.

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins. When a single mom and a teen girl are found murdered at the bottom of a river in a small town weeks apart, an ensuing investigation dredges up a complicated local history involving human instincts and the damage they can inflict. By the bestselling author or another twisty novel, The Girl on the Train.

One Book, Two Readers – Teens Review “It Ends With Us”

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Teens: did you know that you can earn community service credit for writing a book review and submitting it to us? Today, we’ll hear from two teens who did just that, and get their takes on the same book. Find out more about how to earn community service hours from home at cheshirelibrary.org/teens/.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. Reviewed by Anja J.

This book had me in actual tears by the end of it, and I finished it in less than 2 days. Colleen Hoover did an outstanding job at portraying the hard-to-hear truths of domestic violence in this book. The story outlines the childhood of Lily Bloom living and growing up in an unstable household, with a father that got angry at her mother very easily. At the same time, she falls in love with a boy, Atlas, with whom she found refuge and comfort. The two, however, part ways.

Fast-forwarding to her post-college years, she meets a man in Boston, Ryle, who seems like the perfect fit for her. Until he isn’t. Meanwhile, Lily runs into her first love, Atlas, after all these years, which challenges the strength and trust of Lily and Ryle’s relationship.

The story of Lily and Ryle’s relationship has the reader engaged from the very beginning. It perfectly demonstrates the gray areas of abusive relationships and how one can fall into the cycle of abuse and struggle to break their way out. Hoover’s beautiful writing creates a waterfall of emotions and exemplifies the contradictions in characters that we see in everyday life. Everything is written so personally and eloquently that it is like you are literally in Lily’s shoes and experiencing everything firsthand. Parts of the book were also written in the form of journal entries that provided so much more insight into the internal workings of Lily. This book has never made me hate, and yet, sympathize with a character more. After reading this book, I had realized this story could be so much more realistic than it is fiction. So many women face the same awful and heart-breaking situations that Lily was in and reading this story was getting to know, intimately, what that is like. This book has recently gained a lot of popularity, and it is justifiable, as it truly lives up to all of the hype.

5 stars.

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. Reviewed by Jocelyn C.

Lily Bloom grew up in a traumatizing household. She never had it the same as some of her classmates and friends. She was born in a small town in Maine, graduated from college, and ended up moving. She moved to Boston and opened up her own business, which she’s always dreamed of. When she meets a handsome neurosurgeon, Ryle Kincade, her whole life is turned around. She falls in love with him.

Ryle had many attributes. He is stubborn, strong, and even a little conceited. Among all of these, he is extremely caring with a huge spot in his heart for Lily. As Lily navigates through her crazy and wild ride of a relationship with Ryle, thoughts of Atlas Corrigan come back to haunt her. Atlas was her first love. Her protector with the biggest heart and soul she’d ever met. They were together when they were in high school and were inseparable. They saw each other every waking moment of the day. They couldn’t bear to not see each other until one day Atlas left and Lily was left all alone, completely heartbroken. When she graduated college, she finally said she needed to get out of Maine, and that’s how she ended up in Boston, where everything seemed better.

When Atlas all of a sudden reappeared back in her life 15 years later, Lily and Ryle’s entire relationship is jeopardized. He was a link to her past that she didn’t want to remember. Lily and Ryle struggle to rekindle their relationship, all while Atlas is in the back of both of their minds. We see jealousy, anger, and reconciliation all throughout the book. It will make you fall in love, rip your heart out, and be so angry while dealing with sensitive topics. Colleen Hoover conveys an excellent novel of love and heartbreak that jump started a new groundbreaking career for her.

5 stars

What’s Happening at Cheshire Library in December

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It’s cold outside, but we’ve got some hot programming to warm you up this month. Here’s some of what’s in store for December.

December Art Show–Assemblages by Sarah Schneiderman

All month

This month’s exhibition by Sarah Schneiderman, MFA tells the stories of some barrier breakers from marginalized groups and celebrates their wins.

TAB: Teen Advisory Board (Grades 6-12)

  • Thursday, December 1, 2022, 3:45 – 4:45pm
  • Thursday, December 15, 2022, 3:45 – 4:45pm Holiday Party!

The Teen Advisory Board is a group of teens in grades 6-12 who want to take an active part in helping the library and the community. Giveaways and snacks will be provided. Register on our volunteer Signup page and you will receive community service credit. You will earn 1 hour of community service credit for attending this event and 1 hour for every additional hour spent working on projects outside of the event.

Baby & Toddler Playgroup (Ages 0-36 months)

A playgroup for babies, toddlers, and their caregivers to socialize and connect. Children will enjoy unstructured play with their peers and age appropriate toys provided by the library. Registration is required. Best for ages 0-36 months and their caregivers.

Open Art Studio

Fridays from 1-3pm

Bring your works in progress and supplies to this weekly drop-in art program. This is an opportunity to create in a collaborative environment with other artists. No formal instruction will be provided, but informal critiquing for those who want it is encouraged. Table covers will be provided. There is a sink in the room for basic cleanup (please do not bring turpentine).

The Hot Flashes Holiday Concert

The Hot Flashes Holiday Concert

Saturday, December 3, 2022 2:00 – 3:00pm

The Hot Flashes will be returning to Cheshire to perform their popular holiday concert, blending upbeat, fun and familiar songs with more contemplative quiet music coupled with the Flashes’ captivating on-stage camaraderie.

Movie Matinees

Join us in the Library Loft for a movie on the big screen! No registration is required and movies begin at 1pm. Both movies this month are rated PG.

Cheshire Art League–Mike Berlinski Painting Demonstration

Wednesday, December 7, 2022, 6:30 – 8:00pm

The Cheshire Art League is hosting a presentation by guest artist, Mike Berlinski.  Much of Mike’s work is created outdoors in the “plein-air” tradition. For this demonstration, he will set up his French easel and paint a small painting from a photo, describing the process and talking about some of the basics of the painting process along the way. Registration is not required.

Cat Tales Writers Group

Thursday, December 8 2022, 6:30 – 8:00pm

Join us for a monthly open writing group that can help answer your questions on writing, editing, grammar, and publishing. Read a selection of your work to the group for general constructive feedback, or discuss a book you’ve read that might help someone else. Registration is required.

John Singer Sargent: Master with a Brush

Thursday, December 8, 2022, 7:00 – 8:15pm

John Singer Sargent, a masterful nineteenth-century artist, is celebrated for his Grand Manner portraiture of the European and American elite. This online program will explore his most beloved as well as rarely seen images, including portraits, forays into Impressionism and stunning watercolors. Registration required. A Zoom link will be sent to your email one hour before the start of the program.

R & R Book Group (Grades 3-5)

Friday, December 9, 2022, 4:00 – 4:45pm

R & R (Reading & Relaxation) Book Group is an interactive book discussion group, that meets once a month. Refreshments will be served! December’s title: The Potato Chip Puzzles by Eric Berlin. Registration is required.

Caregiver Support Group

Wednesday, December 14, 2022, 12:00 – 1:00pm

A support group for caregivers to share tips, strategies, challenges, and successes. Caregivers of all types are welcome, including spouses and adult children caring for relatives, caregivers to children, and professional caregivers. Registration is required.

Adult Loft Knitters

Wednesday, December 14, 2022, 6:30 – 8:00pm

Come socialize, learn, and share your techniques with other knitters.  Experience the relaxing and calming effect of knitting. All levels of adult knitters are welcome. Please bring your own yarn and knitting needles (crocheters are also welcome!). This group meets monthly, please register in advance.

Preschool Playgroup

Thursday, December 15, 2022, 10:00 – 10:30am

A playgroup for preschoolers and their caregivers to socialize and connect. Preschoolers can enjoy unstructured play with their peers and age appropriate toys provided by the library. Best for ages 3-5 months and their caregivers. Registration is required.

Library After Hours: Bingo Night

Friday, December 16, 2022, 5:00 – 7:30pm

Bring your good luck charms to an evening of action-packed Bingo excitement! Snacks and drinks will be available, but feel free to bring your own. We will also have an ugly sweater competition! Wear your ugliest sweater and the winner will take home a special prize! Players of all ages are welcome. Registration is required for each person and will be checked at the door.  Bingo as well as other interactive games will be played from 5:30-7:00pm in the Mary Baldwin Room. The Children’s room, lobby, and lower level will be closed during this event. 

Family Storytime

Saturday, December 17, 2022, 11:00 – 11:30am

Family Storytime is a drop-in, interactive storytime for children and family members! Learn through talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing! This storytime is for children of all ages. No registration is required.

Winter Ball (Ages 0-5)

Wednesday, December 21, 2022, 10:30 – 11:30am

You are cordially invited to the Winter Ball! Please join us on the twenty first of December at ten thirty in the morning at the Cheshire Public Library. There will be music, dancing, playing, and crafts. We request formal attire. Best for ages 0-5. Please register each child. Costumes or formal attire is strongly encouraged.

Cocoa & Cookies Storytime

Thursday, December 22, 2022, 6:30 – 7:00pm

Cocoa & Cookies Storytime is a drop-in, interactive storytime for children of all ages! Enjoy cocoa & cookies and learn through talking, singing, reading, writing, and playing! This storytime is for children of all ages. No registration is required.

Jigsaw Puzzle Competition

Tuesday, December 27, 2022, 2:00 – 4:30pm

Looking to get out of the house in the middle of all the winter holidays? Grab your best puzzling buddies and see who’s the fastest puzzler of them all! Winner gets a puzzle prize and bragging rights! This is a great opportunity to do something fun with visiting friends and family. Sign up as a team of 3-5 people, or sign up as a single or pair and we’ll place you on a larger team. You’ll have two hours to complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle, provided by the library. Please leave personal puzzling equipment at home. We will provide puzzle trays and snacks. Registration required. To accommodate as many participants as possible, registrations will go on the wait list for staff to review, and you will be notified when your registration is approved. Priority will be given to Cheshire residents.

Crazy Librarian's Office: Teen Escape Room (Grades 6-12)

Crazy Librarian’s Office: Teen Escape Room (Grades 6-12)

Tuesday, December 27, 2022, 3:00pm – 4:00pm

A teen escape room set in a “Crazy Librarian’s Office”, work as a team to solve the puzzles and get the final prize! For teens in grades 6-12. Registration required. 

Teen Book Reviews: All the Bright Places and Thoughts & Prayers

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Teens: did you know that you can earn community service credit for writing a book review and submitting it to us? Today, we’ll hear from two teens who did just that. Find out more about how to earn community service hours from home at cheshirelibrary.org/teens/.

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. Reviewed by Anja J.

This book had me in tears. If you ever have one of those feelings where you just want to read a book and cry, this is the book to pick off the shelf. I was able to finish this book within a week. The story starts off with Violet Markey standing on the ledge of the bell tower of her high school. It wasn’t until a boy, who goes by Finch showed up, did she stop thinking about what it would be like if she jumped. After this encounter, Finch takes an interest in why he found Violet on that ledge that day, and Violet wonders how it ended up being the school outcast and “freak” that basically saved her life. The two are then assigned together on a project that gives them a chance to answer their questions about one another and learn even more.

This story, however sad it may be, was beautifully written and explores the experiences of teenagers and mental health. The quick paced story had me smiling at many parts and borderline sobbing at others. As I teenager myself, reading this book significantly impacted me. It showcased the struggles of teenagers that know one really knows and how it can impact daily life. There are not many books written this spectacularly that focus on sensitive issues like these. Jennifer Niven worked wonders when she wrote this book as she intimately described these two characters and how they fit each other perfectly.

Reading this book gives an insight into how people can fall victim to their own minds. The feeling of being lonely in a crowded room or out of touch and control is perfectly demonstrated. The intrusive thoughts of death play a big role in this novel, and it is seen how Violet and Finch are each others tethers that keep each other going every day. Despite tragedy in the book, the writing is magnificent and the feelings that ignite in you while reading it will have you full of joy or borderline sobbing.

4 stars.

Thoughts and Prayers by Bryan Bliss. Reviewed by Ima T.

Thoughts and Prayers by Bryan Bliss, is an impactful novel of today’s world. It follows the perspectives of three teenagers — Claire, Eleanor and Brezzen, completely different people who seem to have nothing in common. Eleanor is a popular basketball player, Brezzen is a gamer, and Claire only has a few close friends. The one thing that unites them is that they all hid under the same set of stairs during a school shooting.

Every character deals with this issue in different ways, and this is what Bliss explores in the novel. Claire becomes a shell of her old self. While she was introverted before the incident, she turned into herself even more. Eleanor did her best to move on after the shooting, but she’s angry that none of the adults are doing anything to stop the jokes about the shootings. She experiences a lot of prejudice as well, since she is a feminist that none of the conservatives in town can relate to. Brezzen chooses to stay home, getting home schooled. He has to fight the battle of going back to school and feeling safe. The entire situation is very relevant nowadays, because of the constant barrage of news about school shootings.

I would highly recommend this book to kids in high school. It’s very impactful to read about kids who are the age of high schoolers, but struggling to understand the impact of the negative events that can destroy people’s lives. Claire, Eleanor, and Brezzen each provide different lessons that any reader can relate to, even if they are not a star athlete or avid gamer. This story gets even more relatable still because of the first hand perspective of each person. It’s interesting to see how differently they all view each other and the scenario since they all experienced the same thing at the same time. I would highly recommend Thoughts and Prayers to whichever reader wants to truly understand not only the horrors of school shootings, but the hope and resilience that can follow.

5 stars