Goodnight Bubbala, By Sheryl Haft

The little old lady whispering “hush” from the original “Goodnight Moon” has nothing in common with this boisterous family of rabbit bubbes and zaydes and various grandchildren who descend upon a cute bubbeleh bunny getting ready for bed one Hanukkah night. They dance and sing, spin dreidels, nosh on bagels and knaidels, and play with a toy gorilla — an apparently useful item used later to rhyme with the line “the whole megillah” on the final page.

The humor here is overblown and silly, but kids familiar with the original may get a kick out of saying, “Goodnight knaidel and the shmeer on a bagel. Goodnight gelt, and goodnight dreidel, Goodnight little blocks, and goodnight tzedakah box.” You get the idea. The lively illustrations are also a parody of the original and full of Jewish ritual objects to spot and identify. Look for the “Easy Latke” recipe at the end, supplied by popular Jewish cookbook author Ina Garten. -- Lisa Silverman, Director, Burton Sperber Jewish Community Library, retrieved