Good news: Hanukkah at Monica’s is now on the PJ Library Amazon store https://www.amazon.com/pjlibrary. The colorfully illustrated new picture book is written and illustrated by Varda Livney.

Here is a synopsis: No one loves Hanukkah more than Monica. And celebrating the Festival of Lights — lighting candles, singing blessings, eating delicious fried foods and playing dreidel — is even more fun with friends. Luckily, Monica has lots of friends, including a robot, a pirate, even a jellyfish! Who’s going to arrive at her party next?

PJ Library also offers plenty of ideas and free resources at the Hanukkah Hub, including kid-friendly information about the holiday, interfaith celebration information, recipes, printables (menorah, dreidel). https://pjlibrary.org/hanukkah. Of particular note is the essay, “No We Don’t Celebrate Both”: https://pjlibrary.org/beyond-books/pjblog/november-2021/no-we-dont-celebrate-both

PJ Library also offers several other great holiday book suggestions; please visit the Ultimate Children’s Book List. (These are books mailed for free to subscribers; some are available for purchase elsewhere.)

PJ Library Presents will launch season 2 of their NAPPA Award-winning podcasts this month. A new Afternoons with Mimi podcast episode coming on Nov. 22: Kiddo Lights the Hanukkah Candles. Here’s a synopsis: Hanukkah is here and it’s time for the whole family to get together. Kiddo isn’t sure how to light the candles or where each one goes in the menorah. Miraculous Mimi to the rescue!

Amazon (and/or Shopify) store gift ideas: Choose easy and meaningful Hanukkah gifts, including a Jewish perpetual calendar, PJ Library aprons, and carefully curated books (like Hanukkah at Monica’s) for children: https://www.amazon.com/pjlibrary

Yoto App launch – For the first time ever, the Yoto App will include Jewish stories for children starting November 8th. PJ Library is providing podcast episodes for this screen-free audio listening device for young children: https://us.yotoplay.com/

About PJ Library

PJ Library is a program of the Harold Grinspoon Foundation, an internationally recognized, $40M global cultural literacy venture that partners with philanthropists and Jewish communities around the world to provide families raising Jewish children with the gift of free, high-quality children’s books and other resources that foster a deeper connection with Jewish life. Each month, PJ Library and PJ Our way mails out nearly 670,000 books to families worldwide. To date, PJ Library has gifted 50 million books to children. To find out more or sign-up kids aged 0-12, visit pjlibrary.org.

PHOTO: Hanukkah at Monica’s