School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Sadie turns over the firewood she has gathered to a poor old woman she meets in the woods and is given a magic latke pan in return for her kindness. She is told the secret words to make it work and warned, "Only you may use my gift." The girl has been left alone during Chanukah to care for her four younger brothers and she puts the pan to good use by making piles of the delicious potato pancakes. She warns the boys not to use the pan while she goes out to invite the old woman to share their bounty on the last night of Chanukah, but of course the moment she leaves, they get busy making latkes and predictable chaos ensues. Howland's gouache and colored-pencil artwork is done in a Russian folk-art style to reflect the setting. This appealing story, told in the spirit of Tomie dePaola's Strega Nona (S & S, 1975), is perfect to share with a large group. A latke recipe and a note on the origins of Chanukah round out this holiday treat.-T.M. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Like most of this season's Hanukkah offerings, Howland's (ABCDrive!) uses the holiday as flavoring rather than the principal ingredient. Her agreeable outing combines a classic fairy tale plot with a shtetl setting and a touch of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. A girl does a kind deed for an old woman, who gives her a magic pan that will fry up latkes. Her brothers overhear the secret words that will start the pan cooking, but not those that will stop it (the words are "A great miracle happened there," to which dreidels also refer). Howland serves up friendly, folk-ish art, containing the excesses of the plot with down-to-earth depictions of people and village. Ages 5-8. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
