I dare you to read The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming without immediately jumping up to make a Latke. The poor thing is so upset by its bath in hot oil that it hops right out of the pan and runs through the village screaming. As Lemony Snicket points out, “This is unusual behavior for a potato pancake. But this is a Christmas story, in which things tend to happen that would never occur in real life.”
We also learn in a very funny way what its like to be different. And at the same time people who are not Jewish find out a little about the history behind Hanukkah.
This small book offers so much – laughs, understanding, history, whimsical art – it’s no wonder copies are jumping off the shelves in libraries and bookstores everywhere, and running off down the street to children’s homes :). Happy Hanukkah! The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming. 44 pages. by Lemony Snicket, McSweeney’s books, 2007.