Review - The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming

The Latke Who Couldn't Stop Screaming
by Lemony Snicket
illustrated by Lisa Brown
Date: 2007
Publisher: McSweeney's
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book
Pages: 43
Format: hardcover
Source: library

Latkes are potato pancakes served at Hanukkah, and Lemony Snicket is an alleged children’s author. For the first time in literary history, these two elements are combined in one book. A particularly irate latke is the star of The Latke Who Couldn’t Stop Screaming, but many other holiday icons appear and even speak: flashing colored lights, cane-shaped candy, a pine tree. Santa Claus is briefly discussed as well. The ending is happy, at least for some. People who are interested in any or all of these things will find this book so enjoyable it will feel as though Hanukkah were being celebrated for several years, rather than eight nights.

(synopsis from Goodreads)

I really had no idea what to expect from this one.  With a title like that...

This was actually a pretty cute holiday story (not purely a Christmas story, as the subtitle suggests).  It tells the tale of a latke who can't seem to stop screaming, even as he strives to fulfill his holiday destiny.  Interspersed with all the screaming are some surprisingly informative bits about the origins of Hanukkah and its traditions.

I'm sure I would have enjoyed this book when I was a kid, but I found it amusing even now.  I enjoyed it a bit more than Lemony Snicket's other short holiday book, The Lump of Coal, but both stories would be great additions to your holiday book collection.

Premise: 5/5
Meter: n/a
Writing: 4/5
Illustrations: 5/5
Originality: 5/5
Enjoyment: 4/5

Overall: 4.6 out of 5