FICTION

Shmelf the Hanukkah Elf

by Greg WOLFE
illus. by Howard McWilliam. 32p. Bloomsbury. Sept. 2016. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781619635210.
COPY ISBN
PreS-Gr 1—If you have Jewish children worrying about why they don't get Christmas presents even though they've been good, they can thank new elf Shmelf for raising the question with Santa. After witnessing a family's Hanukkah celebrations, Shmelf is delighted: "'Hey, now I get it!' Shmelf said with a grin./'Hanukkah's awesome! I'm totally in!' " Santa, happy that Shmelf cares for Jewish children, decks him out in a blue and white outfit and sends him out with a Jewish reindeer to ensure a good holiday for eight nights in December (some years in November). Bright, colorful illustrations and a perky couplet scheme make this a viable, if odd, storytime title, but somehow the message just seems awkward and leaves a patronizingly bad taste.
VERDICT Does Santa really need to mess with Hanukkah? Not recommended.
Reviewed by Anne Connor, Los Angeles Public Library
In disbelief upon learning that Jewish children don't receive presents on Christmas, Shmelf, one of Santa's elves, observes a family's "awesome" Hanukkah celebration. Then Santa appoints Shmelf as a Hanukkah representative, complete with "Jewish reindeer" and sleigh. Accompanied by festive-enough illustrations, the rhyming text aims for cheer but, by putting Hanukkah under Santa's purview, misleads readers of all faiths.
 , Oct 01, 2016

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