Poetry Books for Hanukkah

Hanukkah begins this weekend and you may be surprised to learn there are several collections of poetry for young people that recognize and celebrate this Jewish Festival of Lights. Here is my list of poetry for children featuring Hanukkah (drawn from my Poetry Teacher's Book of Lists). In some cases, the entire book features Hanukkah, but most of the time it is the topic of a few of the poems in the collection. (Please let me know if I've missed any other poetry books with Hanukkah poems.)

Poetry Books for Hanukkah

Gathering with family and friends to celebrate Hanukkah is the focus of several collections of poetry including these.

1. Chorao, Kay. 2009. Rhymes Round the World. New York: Dutton Children’s Books.
2. Florian, Douglas. 1999. Winter Eyes: Poems and Paintings. New York: Greenwillow.
3. Jules, Jacqueline. 2001. Clap and Count! Action Rhymes for the Jewish Year. Rockville, MD: Kar-Ben.
4. Hines, Anna Grossnickle. 2005. Winter Lights: A Season in Poems & Quilts. New York: Greenwillow.
5. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2004. Hanukkah Lights: Holiday Poetry. New York: HarperCollins.
6. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 2005. Days to Celebrate: A Full Year of Poetry, People, Holidays, History, Fascinating Facts, and More. New York: Greenwillow.
7. Hopkins, Lee Bennett. Ed. 1992. Ring Out, Wild Bells: Poems about Holidays and Seasons. New York: Harcourt Brace.
8. Jules, Jacqueline. 2001. Clap and Count! Action Rhymes for the Jewish Year. Rockville, MD: Kar-Ben.
9. Livingston, Myra Cohn. Ed. 1986. Poems for the Jewish Holidays. New York: Holiday House.
10. Peters, Andrew Fusek. 2000. Poems about Festivals. London, UK: Hodder Wayland.
11. Roemer, Heidi. 2004. Come to my Party and Other Shape Poems. New York: Henry Holt.
12. Whitehead, Jenny. 2007. Holiday Stew; A Kid’s Portion of Holiday and Seasonal Poems. New York: Henry Holt.
13. Vardell, Sylvia and Wong, Janet. Eds. 2011. Gift Tag. PoetryTagTime.com.
14. Yolen, Jane. 1998. Snow, Snow:  Winter Poems for Children. Honesdale, PA: Wordsong/Boyds Mills.
15. Ziefert, Harriet. 2008. Hanukkah Haiku. Maplewood, NJ: Blue Apple Books.

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Meanwhile, dash over to Read, Write, Howl for Poetry Friday hosted by the lovely Robyn Hood Black. See you there!