Sparking conversations this Hanukkah

My own family celebrates Christmas instead of Hanukkah. But each year, we bring out a menorah my son made in preschool. We talk about how our world has many different people, with many different faith traditions.

A great book for helping this conversation along is One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship by Mary Pope Osborne. (This book is available from Sno-Isle Libraries.)

I know what you are thinking. “Mary Pope Osborne? Isn’t she the lady who wrote all of those Magic Tree House books?” Yup! It’s the same author. Apparently Mary Pope Osborne also has her degree in religion from the University of North Carolina, and has traveled all over the world including the Middle East and Asia.

One World, Many Religions is almost like a coffee table book written for children. There are beautiful pictures and easy to follow text about the world’s major religions including: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

So happy Hanukkah to all of my Jewish friends! I hope your dreidel lands on Gimmel.