Hanukkah Lights: Stories of the Season

by NPR, Anne Roiphe, Elie Wiesel

This Hanukkah marks the fifteenth season of Hanukkah Stories of the Season, one of NPR's most popular holiday programs. The show has built a large and loyal following of listeners of all ages and all walks of life. Each year, Hanukkah Lights attracts some of the finest contemporary writers, including best-selling authors such as Myra Goldberg and Anne Roiphe, whose stories are read by Susan Stamberg and Murray Horwitz, longtime hosts of the program. NPR's Hanukkah Ten Modern Tales gathers some of the best stories from the programs to create a contemporary look at the holiday. With a mixture of modern folklore, neotraditional tales, and truly contemporary voices, NPR's Hanukkah Lights explores the many facets of Jewish storytelling. A lonely man finds love over the phone when trying to amend a Hanukkah Internet shopping disaster. Faced with discrimination on stage at a holiday pageant, a young girl rebels against the ignorance of her teachers and hopes for a new attitude in the coming decades. And a retirement community discovers one evening that Hanukkah is not just about tradition, but is also about embracing future generations and ways of celebrating. A bonus audio CD produced by NPR includes four additional stories from the original broadcasts, read by Stamberg and Horwitz, allowing readers to listen to the tales in their car, kitchen, or living room. And NPR's Hanukkah Lights features beautiful original illustrations for each story and illustrative flourishes throughout, making the book the perfect gift for the holiday season. NPR's Hanukkah Lights gathers some of today's best Jewish storytellers, from Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel to MacArthur Award winner Rebecca Goldstein. Other authors include Ariel Dorfman, Daniel Mark Epstein, Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer, Lesléa Newman, Daniel Pinkwater, and Max Apple.

Genres: Jewish

128 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

National Public Radio

Reviews

[Margaret Klein · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the last Chanukah book my mother gave me and it is a gem. You see that is a big deal. My favorite memories of Chanukah are racing home from school, eating dinner while the candles burned low and then listening to my father read stories. At some point my parents became booksellers and books, always prominent became more so. This book captures some of that feeling. The stories are written by some of the best writers including Elie Wiesel and Mark Halprin. As with any collection, some stories are better than others. I especially loved the last story!

[Leah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was excited to see a new, well designed book about Hanukkah, but I found the stories a little hit or miss. I think the premise is great--to bring together the best stories NPR's top rated holiday program. The collection includes a range of themes and tones which is nice, but it is hard for me to imagine that some of these are THE BEST stories in 15 years. Perhaps something got lost in the transcription of a couple.

[Spider Goddess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories about Hanukkah. I have never listened to the NPR program of the same name, from which these stories were taken, but would like to make this a part of my family's tradition.