Don’t Invite a Bear Inside for Hanukkah

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2025 IBPA Silver Award Winner

An excellent book for library collections.

– School Library Journal

A charmer about the special meanings of Hanukkah: joy, friendship, and inclusion.

—Kirkus Reviews

An amusing tale, speckled with Hanukkah details, about making guests feel welcome.

—Horn Books

What if a guest becomes difficult to bear? This book leads by example.

—Foreword Reviews

This cute tale of hospitality gone wrong, when a well-meaning bear makes a mess of one family’s home during Hanukkah, is filled with delightful snowscapes and dreidels and menorahs galore.

– Kveller

One tradition of Jewish culture is to welcome guests warmly when they visit a home. So when a young boy putting up Hanukkah decorations sees a bear at his front door, he lets the bear in, as he has been taught to do—despite the warnings from the narrator, who uses second-person perspective to tell the story.

VERDICT: An excellent book for library collections.

– School Library Journal, Dec 2024

Kids will love this story’s humor, chaos and bear puns; adults will love how the story (bolstered by backmatter) teaches the Jewish tradition of welcoming guests warmly and thoughtfully into a home. Illustrations feature oodles of gorgeous ritual items and traditional holiday foods. The humor and glossary in the back makes this a good holiday read for Jews and non-Jews, and a sweet, fun, wintry read-a-loud.

– Melissa Lasher, The Sydney Taylor Shmooze, Dec 2024

In this energetic, lighthearted story, readers will learn about the preparations and traditions of Hanukkah. It’s a Hanukkah tale about meeting new friends where they are, accommodating differences, being flexible and learning to celebrate even if things don’t go exactly as planned. Leave your creature comforts behind and go outside into nature for a rollicking good time.

– Glenda C., The Mommies Reviews, Aug 2024

Included on a list of Jewish Holiday Books for Children.

– Cathy Lynn Grossman, Publishers Weekly Sept 2024

There’s mayhem in this laugh-out-loud story when a young boy invites a Jewish bear into his house for his family’s Hanukkah celebration. But when the fun turns messy, the boy asks his new friend to leave, a decision he instantly regrets after he realizes the bear is sad. All ends well when the thoughtful boy invites the bear back to celebrate together — outside.

– Penny Schwatrz, JEWISH TELEGRAPHIC AGENCY Dec 2024

A rollicking Hanukkah romp about including friends, accommodating differences, and having FUN!

Don’t invite a bear inside for Hanukkah! While he might try to be helpful with decorating and putting candles in the menorah, he will start to cause a mess soon enough, especially when latkes, gelt, and other holiday food are served.

But maybe if you think creatively, you can still celebrate the holiday together.

In this energetic, lighthearted story, readers will learn about the preparations and traditions of Hanukkah. It’s a Hanukkah tale about meeting new friends where they are, accommodating differences, being flexible, and learning to celebrate even if things don’t go exactly as planned. Leave your creature comforts behind and go outside into nature for a rollicking good time.

– Kathy Temean, Nov 2024

Mishaps ensue when a large bear joins a young boy and his family for Hanukkah. In the quest to find a better way to celebrate together, the boy learns the meaning of mitzvot, hospitality, and friendship.

– Barbara Beitz, Jewish Books for Kids

Celebrating Hanukkah, welcoming others and compromise!

– Charlotte Offsay, @PictureBookRecommendations on Instagram

Interview by Writer, Ellen Leventhal.

– Ellen Leventhal, Oct 2024

The story uses second person point of view to address the reader in the form of a nameless boy who doesn’t listen to the narrator and invites a bear inside his home. At first the bear is helpful reaching decorations stored on high shelves, but as you can imagine, it doesn’t end that way.

Interview by Writer & Illustrator, Jena Benton.

– Jena Benton, Nov 2024

Interview by Maria Marshall.

– Maria Marshall, Oct 2024

This cute book will bring BEARY BIG smiles. It is considered a mitzvah, a good deed, to invite people into the home to share celebrations. But when a youngster invites a bear into the house to celebrate Hanukkah, he ends up with a BEARY BIG mess.

– Charlotte Offsay, @Story.Book.Lady on Instagram

Interview by Author & Editor, Deborah Kalb.

– Deborah Kalb, Nov 2024

PreS-Gr 2–One tradition of Jewish culture is to welcome guests warmly when they visit a home. So when a young boy putting up Hanukkah decorations sees a bear at his front door, he lets the bear in, as he has been taught to do—despite the warnings from the narrator, who uses second-person perspective to tell the story.

At first, it seems the bear is a big help; he helps decorate and reach items in high places. But soon it becomes clear that he is not as big of a help as the boy first believed. Things go from bad to terrible when the boy’s mother brings out the food and the bear eats up everything, while making a mess of the house. The boy has to kick the bear out, but upon following the bear, discovers they have more in common than he thought; they find a way to celebrate Hanukkah together. Illustrations are engagingly delightful, and back matter includes an author’s letter to readers as well as a glossary.

This book is a superb way to introduce and reinforce the traditions of Hanukkah. Children see examples of kindness, tolerance, and acceptance of others, as well as the importance of sharing one’s culture and beliefs. VERDICT An excellent book for library collections.

–Laura Ellis, SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, Sept/Oct 2024 Issue

An offstage narrator addresses a child who ignores the titular advice. The ursine guest helps—and “helps”—with preparations; the digital-looking illustrations show that, for example, picking out tiny candles isn’t the best task for bear paws. Once the latkes come out, all helpfulness is out the window, and the guest is out the door. The resolution involves an outdoor sufganiyot compromise and a bear-made gift (though that tree-branch menorah might be better for decoration than for lighting). An amusing tale, speckled with Hanukkah details, about making guests feel welcome.

–The Horn Book: SHOSHANA FLAX

Be bear-y mindful of whom you invite over for the holidays.

The young narrator’s adamant: Don’t invite a bear inside for Hanukkah! “You might think it’s a great idea because it’s always nice to invite guests inside to celebrate.” If you do, you’ve been forewarned. Don’t expect your guest to share the applesauce, latkes, or chocolate gelt. After the bear wolfs all the food down, the protagonist tells him to scram. Crying, the bear leaves. The child follows him to his den, only to see him lighting his own tree-branch menorah. How could the youngster have known that bears celebrate Hanukkah, too? The bear gives the child the menorah as a present. What a dilemma! The narrator doesn’t want the bear to celebrate Hanukkah alone, and inviting him back inside is a big no. Then an idea strikes! What about an outdoor Hanukkah celebration-cum-barbecue for everyone—complete with the bear’s menorah, latkes, and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts)?

This sweet, good-humored story reminds readers that Hanukkah’s meant to be celebrated with family and friends (if not necessarily ursine ones) and that it’s important to accommodate guests. The rollicking, richly hued illustrations are cheerfully expressive. The human characters are tan-skinned and dark-haired; all appear to enjoy a delightful holiday celebration with their guest, even surrounded by snow. Backmatter notes that, per Jewish tradition, it’s a mitzvah to make guests feel special. A charmer about the special meanings of Hanukkah: joy, friendship, and inclusion.” (glossary) (Picture book. 4-7)

–Kirkus Reviews

In Jewish tradition, it’s considered a mitzvah (a good deed) to warmly welcome guests, but what if a guest becomes difficult to bear? This picture book leads by example: when a child invites a bear in for Hanukkah, its appetite becomes a “beary big” problem; the child kicks the bear out, but follows it after seeing its distress. After learning the bear will now be celebrating alone, the child devises a compromise that brings “a beary big smile” and a new friend.

—The Foreword

• Teachers Guide (PDF)
• Coloring Page (JPG)
• Coloring Page (PDF)