The Magic Dreidels

With the start of Chanukah last night I had planned to read this story to my preschoolers at work. To prep them, I said, "Another holiday, called, Chanukah started last night and is going to last eight days. Do any of you celebrate Chanukah?" I did this because you just never know and cannot assume that everyone celebrates Christmas. In the past six years I've had one student who truly celebrates Chanukah and two who don't celebrate, but who's parents have talked to them about it. Anyway, so I posed this question to the sea of young faces. To which Many Reply, "I celebrate Chanukah!" To which I reply, "What do you do to celebrate Chanukah?" And the answers? They vary: "We put up a Christmas tree with a star." "We go outside to play in the snow." I finally figure that none of my little ones truly celebrate Chanukah and I explain, "Some people celebrate Chanukah, some people celebrate Christmas, some people celebrate Chanukah AND Christmas, and some people don't celebrate either one. This story is about a little boy and his family who are getting ready to celebrate Chanukah." And then I read the book. It's a pretty good book - doesn't talk about the religious aspect of Chanukah (which I'm not sure I could do in a public school since I'm not allowed to talk about the religious aspect of Christmas or any other holiday). It's basically about a boy who gets magic dreidels, but the neighbor keeps stealing them before he can show his family the latkes and gelt that they spin out, but in the end it all works out and they eat latkes and share the silver coins with everyone. It's got a good story line and allows me to expose the kids to a different culture - if even at only surface level. Yes I know there's more to Chanukah then latkes, gelt, and dreidels - just like there's more to Christmas than trees, Santa, and presents - but in a public school you do what you can within limits... I've got two other Chanukah books in my library at school, but am open to suggestions if anyone knows any good ones.