The Open Eigitt Nig g 0 1 Li ir Lee stem 11.uistmesl Apportey A Pop-up Celebration by David A. Carter This Book Will B And You'll Love The market is flooded with new children s ooks for the holiday check out AppleTree's reviews. ' ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM AppleTree Editor hanukah Bugs by David A. Carter (Little Simon — a division of Simon & Schuster; $10.95). No, you won't see any roaches or cen- tipedes here (mercifully). These bugs are adorable ones with big eyes, dancing legs, purple bodies and hearts popping out from behind their ears — and they all jump out at you! Chanukah Bugs is a pop-out book, 'where these nice little creatures jump out when you open a flap or turn a page. There's the. Dizzy Dreidel Bug, the Golden Gelt Bugs, the Sizzling Potato Latke Bugs. This book is colorful, fun and original. .Children ages 8 and younger (but older than 3, because tiny ones are apt to tear the pop-outs) will love it. Eight Nights of Chanukah Lights by Dian Curti,S Regan, art by Dawn Apperley. (Little Simon; 7 $4.99). Eight Nights is the latest in a series of "Sparkle" books from Little Simon, which translates to a gold, glittery topping covering appropriate objects .(a menorah, a girl's ribbon, a snowman's hat) throughout the book. It's a cute gimmick. The art is charming, too, and the short rhymes, though not especially soul-stirring, work nicely enough ("Songs and prayers/and gifts each night/We celebrate/the Festival of Lights") — yes, we have to have the Chanukah gift routine here. Please remember: Giving presents on Chanukah is NOT a Jewish tradition. Appropriate for ages 5 and younger. D is for Dreidel by Tanya Lee Stone, with art by Dawn Apperley. (Price Stern Sloan; $4.99). Dawn Apperley, who illustrated Eight Nights of Chanukah (see above), also created art for D is for Dreidel, and that's the best part of this book. Her drawings are colorful, endearing and fun. The text is pretty much standard fare — infor- mation about Chanukah for each letter of the alphabet with sometimes clever, sometimes dread- ful rhymes (in the latter category, witness: "K is for kugel/A sweet noodle treat/My Grammy adds raisins/A great dish to eat!"). And because the author had to find something for each letter, -there's lots here that has nothing to do with the holiday, like the kugel, dancing the hora, a quilt. Virtually each page also shows Chanukah pres- ents, unfortunately, and most of the girls wear kip- pot, so this may not be appropriate for all families. One annoying feature: every rhyme ends with an exclamation point! After two or three of these, you want to scream! Flow many exclamation points can a person take! - 1/29 2002 74 One Candle by Eve Bunting, with art by K. Wendy Popp. (HarperCollins; $15.99). Too bad. This is a book that could have been great. . One Candle is the story of a family that remem- bers. It's Chanukah, and as everyone gathers for dinner, Grandma and Great-Aunt Rose speak of another Chanukah, many years ago. They were together, in the German concentration camp Bu4ienwald, and they smuggled a potato from the kitaten to make a menorah. The pictures in One Candle are breathtaking. Each page is like a work of art that draws you in. Curiously, however, while this family appears to be quite traditional (all the men are in kippot and the women are all wearing dresses), the family sits down to a meal where meat and milk are served together ("Dad piles our plates with sliced brisket and gravy. Mom passes the latkes and the sour cream Most troubling, though, is a comment from the grandfather. The grandmother is speaking about Buchenwald, and a child asks why the Germans didn't like the Jews. The grandfather responds: "The Germans didn't like a lot of people. It wasn't only the Jews." But it was the Jews that the Nazis targeted for "extermi- nation." The HoloCaust was the Nazi attempt to wipe out the entire Jewish people. Certainly many others, like homosexuals, Gypsies, communists and the mentally impaired, were killed as well, and we do right to remember them. But suggesting that the Germans just "didn't like a lot of people" who happened to include Jews is not just a matter of trying to be politically correct — it's offensive. II Editor's Note: Next week, AppleTree will review four more new Chanukah books. You can find all these books, and more, at www.jewish.cotn in the children's book section. MtVgiRMWs