Jodie's Hanukkah Dig - A Book Review

Levine, Anna. 2008. Jodie's Hanukkah Dig. Illustrated by Ksenia Topaz. ISBN 978-0-8225-7391-3. Kar-Ben Publishing, Lerner Publishing Group, Minneapolis. 30 full-color pages. Ages 5-9

Jodie's Hanukkah Dig (cover art) Kar-Ben Publishing (c) 2008

Jodie's Hanukkuh Dig is a book intended for 5-9 year-olds, especially girls, written by Anna Levine and illustrated by Ksenia Topaz. The story is about a little Israeli girl named Jodie, whose father takes her to visit an archaeological dig. There she learns about the past, as well as about how the combination of being little, curious and fearless can be a very useful trait in an archaeologist.

The illustrations are lively, as you can tell by the cover shown here, and the story is definitely engaging. I'm not sure, to be perfectly honest, that either as an archaeologist or a parent I'd put a little girl into a bucket and let her down into a deep hole to explore where no big-shouldered archaeologist would fit, but, nonetheless, I think the story does what it intends--interests children in the past and reinforces the ideas of independence and self-worth.

• Jodie's Hanukkah Dig (publisher)
• More Children's Books about Archaeology