FRESH, FEISTY, FUNNY. In this Hanukkah story, Penina finds that a glass of cold milk and a hot potato pancake go a long way. Penina Levine is the only member of her family who isn't looking forward to Hanukkah. Not only is it another chance for her annoying sister to steal the spotlight, but her favorite teacher is taking a mysterious leave of absence, and her best friend is deserting her to go on a dream vacation to Aruba. Then Penina discovers why Mrs. Brown must go away and hears that a snowstorm may ruin Zozo's trip, and Penina knows she's the one who must bring some holiday spirit to her friends. Readers of all backgrounds will relate to Penina as she turns a pile of problems into a Hanukkah to remember. Penina Levine Is a Potato Pancake is a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

Penina Levine has a bossy best friend, a tattletale sister, crazy parents, and a big, fat zero on her school assignment. It was a stupid assignment, completely impossible, totally unfair. She's never going to do it, not ever, and it's no use telling her parents about it. They never listen to her anyway. But Penina's grandmother does. Grandma doesn't think Penina should do the assignment. It's a matter of principle. It's a matter of strength. It's a matter of five thousand years of history, four cups of wine, and a couple dozen hard-boiled eggs.

The 1st ed. includes an index to v. 28-36 of St. Nicholas.

A day in the kitchen with Ari's grandmother is fun, especially when potato pancakes are the result. Ari helps Grandma count ingredients and follows along as Grandma turns ordinary potatoes into a deliciously different dish. This fiction title is paired with the nonfiction title "All About Potatoes" for connecting across texts and comprehension through connection strategies.

"Will appeal to young readers who will also find themselves learning a bit about the meaning of Hanukkah...Warm and funny." —School Library Journal Marla Feinstein, the only Jewish kid in her fourth-grade class, hates December. While everyone else is decorating trees, she'll be forgetting to light the candles and staring at a big plastic dreidel. The holidays couldn't get much worse. So Marla decides to find out what Hanukkah's really about—and soon she and her family have made the Festival of Lights the biggest party in town!

Katie Roberts' life is about to change. Her widowed mother is getting remarried and is taking her away from New York City to a ranch in Texas--away from everything and everyone that she knows. Hest, author of the acclaimed novel Love You, Soldier that featured Katie at age seven, has written a new story in the intimate form of Katie's diary, letters and drawings that sings of a girl's longing to fit into a new life without forgetting the old.

A new biography series complete with full color illustrations that celebrates amazing women, from acclaimed author Kathleen Krull.