Hanukkah in Alaska

            Hanukkah in Alaska

Lexile Level: Not available

            Hanukkah in Alaska is an online book read by Molly Ephraim. This book was written by Barbara Brown and illustrated by Stacey Schuett. This story is about a girl who lives in Alaska in this story the little girl talks about how people have to be careful around moose. She also talks about how dark and cold it is in Alaska. All three of these things make her grumpy, and not excited about Hanukkah. As the story continues there is a moose that lives in her backyard, and she’s scared that the moose is going to destroy her swing set. At night her family goes outside to see the northern lights, and the moose starts getting tangled up in the swing set. She lures the moose away with food and has a happy Hanukkah.
Is this a good story?
            I think this is a great story to read to kids. This story has a lot of interesting facts about Alaska that kids generally would not know, like that Alaska is dark most of the time in winter, or how populated moose are. This book also has a diverse protagonist.
Did the main character overcome a problem? Did it seem natural?

            The main character overcame the problem with the moose. She helped get the moose away from her swing set and she had a great Hanukkah with her family. This seemed like a natural way for the story to end, because during the story the family was trying to lure the moose away with different foods.
Did the characters fit the setting?

            The characters fit the setting. The characters in the book fit their setting. The main character tells the readers everything they would need to know about Alaska. She discusses how it is always dark, and cold. She talks about the northern lights.
Is the setting authentic?
            The setting is very authentic I like that the author chose to talk about Alaska. The author included moose, darkness, northern lights, snow, and how cold it is.
            The author includes personification, like “So much light and so big filling the sky and coloring the sky”. The author also includes onomatopoeia. When the moose gets stuck in the swing there are words like “Creak clank snort”. Lastly, the author includes foreshadowing. The main character talks about how a moose got stuck in a swing, and this ends up almost happening to her swing set. She says, “I’m worried about my swing. Once we saw a moose walking around town with a swing in his antlers.”
            The illustrations are really nicely done. The online book has some of the illustrations animated. I really like the amount of color the illustrator includes in the book. Schuett also adds a lot of expression in her characters, and it helps move the story along.
            For a mini lesson with this book I would have students do a compare and contrast on their lives to the main characters life. They could talk about how they go to school when it is light out or how we do not really have moose in Wisconsin.

Citation:
Brown, B. Schuett, S. (illustrator). 2013. Hanukkah in Alaska. Henry Holt and Co.

Found at:
http://www.storylineonline.net/