(2) K-3 Illustrated by Anna Krajewska. The people of Schmoozeville are fighting “like Judah and the Maccabees”: do latkes go best with applesauce or sour cream? Our narrator, a child visiting her bubbe, makes a golem out of leftover dreidel clay; the creature’s experimentation with latke toppings brings more chaos until the narrator steps up and makes further connections between this fight and the Maccabees’. The silly perennial debate is an amusing way to get to the inevitable ­community celebration. ­Illustrations of a town reminiscent of a playset fit the ­not-to-be-taken-too-seriously text, as does the usually-smiling rainbow-colored golem. Holiday, golem, and related information and a glossary are appended.

Reviewer: Shoshana Flax | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2025