12 Hanukkah Books to Light Up Your TBR List This Season

Mar. 15, 2025

Berkley; Soho Crime; Penguin Books

If you love filling your shelves with festive reading material this time of year but find Christmas-themed books don’t quite fit the bill, try these Hanukkah books on for size. Spanning genres fromheartstring-tugging romanceto cozy seasonal mystery, historical fiction to take you back in time and nonfiction to walk in someone else’s shoes for awhile, not to mentionkids booksto read to the little ones, there’s something for everyone on this list.The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!Whether you need a Hanukkah gift for a beloved reader or a seasonally appropriate mental escape, one of these is sure to set your proverbial dreidel spinning.

If you love filling your shelves with festive reading material this time of year but find Christmas-themed books don’t quite fit the bill, try these Hanukkah books on for size. Spanning genres fromheartstring-tugging romanceto cozy seasonal mystery, historical fiction to take you back in time and nonfiction to walk in someone else’s shoes for awhile, not to mentionkids booksto read to the little ones, there’s something for everyone on this list.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Whether you need a Hanukkah gift for a beloved reader or a seasonally appropriate mental escape, one of these is sure to set your proverbial dreidel spinning.

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MIRA

Rachel Rubenstein-Goldblatt is a nice Jewish girl with a secret: she’s a bestselling Christmas romance novelist. But after her publisher insists she write a Hanukkah romance, Rachel finds herself with a bad case of writer’s block. So she strikes out to the Matzah Ball, where she hopes to find her muse but instead ends up working with her summer camp nemesis, Jacob Greenberg. Will their grudge glow brighter than a menorah, or will sparks fly this season of light? You’ll just have to read to find out.

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Kasva Press

In 1939, Nazis grabbed a beautiful enameled heirloom menorah from the hands of its owner, Aurora. Her daughters Zara and Lilly unearth the family menorah in a New York museum 80 years later. As the sisters scheme to return it to their rightful owner, the quest takes a dangerous — and gripping — turn.

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Berkley

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HarperVia

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Chronic pelvic pain has forced Avital Cohen to put her photography dreamsandher love life on the back burner and it’s almost sinking her family’s kosher bakery, Best Babka in Brooklyn. So she hires the deliciously good-looking Ethan Lippmann to help. But Ethan isn’t totally innocent — he’s heir to a mass-produced kosher baked goods business and supposed to be stealing Avital’s secrets.But before long, the baked goods aren’t the only chemistry happening in the kitchen in this romance that’s good enough to eat.

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New York Review Books

It’s 1959 at Corbin College and Jewish historian Ruben Blum — notably not a historian of the Jews — gets added to a hiring committee for an exiled Israeli scholar specializing in the Spanish Inquisition. When Benzion Netanyahu shows up for an interview, family in tow, Blum finds himself their reluctant host. A delightfully original mix of fiction and nonfiction, this genre-bender is unmissable.

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Tule Publishing Group

Batya Averman is over the moon when she gets tapped to work on a latke fry-off — until she learns it’s back in the hometown she fled years ago. Abe Neumann can’t pass up the chance to enter the latke contest and get one step closer to his dream of opening a Jewish deli. But when Batya comes back to town, Abe remembers he’s got other dreams too — that, much like latke, are best when shared.

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Soho Crime

This collection of 11 wickedly twisted Hanukkah capers run the gamut from hardboiled noir to slapstick comedy and everything in between. With stories that follow an unstable pharmaceutical rep as she tries not to kill anyone at her family dinner on the last night of Hanukkah to an adult son thinking about doing something drastic to get out of his elderly father’s Upper West Side apartment, to a pair of detectives solving a strangely unprompted murder during the holiday season, there’s something to occupy all eight nights — and then some.

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Chronicle Books

As those who celebrate likely know all too well, Jewish rituals are steeped in time-honored tradition. From lighting the menorah on Hanukkah to gathering under the chuppah at a wedding, this elegantly giftable book shares the beloved stories that have been passed down through generations. Read it with the kids to set the stage for holidays and life events alike, or gift it to anyone who treasures their history.

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This thoughtful, reflective collection features 75 contributors writing on Jewish joy, celebration, laughter, food, trauma, loss, love, family and the common threads that course through the Jewish people: resilience and humor. Contributors include Mark Feuerstein, Jill Zarin, Steve Leder, Joanna Rakoff, Amy Ephron, Lisa Barr, Annabelle Gurwitch, Daphne Merkin, Bradley Tusk, Sharon Brous, Jenny Mollen, Nicola Kraus, Caroline Leavitt and many others.

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Penguin Books

If you’ve ever asked — or been asked — any of these questions and many more, pick up this comprehensive and informative guide to Jewish life and traditions. Rabbi Alfred J. Kolatch lays out the significance and the origin of just about every symbol, custom and practice known to Jewish culture, from Afikomon to Yarmulkes and Passover to Purim.

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Holiday House

Hanukkah isn’t all dreidels, latkes and gelt — It’s also the celebration of an ancient miracle. Remembering and sharing the story of the courageous Maccabees and the Temple of Jerusalem where oil burned for eight long nights, this book is the perfect way for kids to learn and appreciate the importance of the holiday.

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This Jewish Book Award-winning picture book is perfect for sharing with the kids this season. Bubba Brayna makes the best latkes in the village, and on the first night of Hanukkah, the delicious aroma wakes a hungry, adorable bear from his hibernation. When he lumbers into town to investigate, Bubba Brayna mistakes him for her rabbi and welcomes the bear inside to play the dreidel game, light the menorah and enjoy a yummy meal. But after he leaves, her real rabbi and friends arrive — only to find there are no latkes left.

If this scrumptious book makes you hungry, you’re in luck! It also features a latke recipe and some fun facts about the holiday and its history.

source: people.com