THE THREE LATKES

Three potato pancakes each boast that he is the tastiest—to a hungry cat.

The table is set for the first night of Hanukkah as three stylish latkes engage in a bragfest. Made in turn from red potato, yellow potato, and gold potato, each claims first place in deliciousness. Red Latke states that vegetable oil gives him a “beautiful color.” Yellow Latke proclaims that frying in schmaltz gives the best taste. Gold Latke smugly asserts that “peanut oil is the healthiest.” Who will settle this dispute? A very observant cat will, and she is no fickle culinary feline. Adding applesauce to Red Latke, she gobbles him up. Dipping Yellow Latke in sour cream makes him a tasty treat. A “smear” of strawberry jam helps the cat devour Gold Latke. And her verdict? Readers will have to follow the appended recipe and come to their own tasty conclusions. With the concatenation of threes, Kimmel follows a traditional European storytelling pattern in this entertaining holiday tale for young readers. Parker-Thomas gives each latke his own unique identity in addition to the type of potato and frying medium. Red Latke sports a baseball cap, Yellow Latke a fedora and bow tie, and the healthy Gold Latke a sweatband and gold medal. Shredded and fried, they look a lot like fuzzballs with eyes, mouths, and pipestem limbs. The cat is suitably expressive.

Fry up a batch and relish every morsel.