SLIDING INTO THE NEW YEAR

YaYa and YoYo are twins whose nicknames are based on their Hebrew names. They use their English names, Ellie and Joel, respectively, in school, and they have lots of friends, both Jewish and non-Jewish. The twins have decidedly different personalities. YoYo is a jokester who loves science and is not very adventuresome. YaYa is messy, forgetful, risk-taking and a daydreamer, and they’re both confused by older brother Jeremy’s pre-teen moods. When YaYa’s best friend invites her to Splash World, she is faced with a dilemma, because the outing is to take place on Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. She negotiates with great hope, but her parents, of course, say no. Although she is disappointed, she really does love the holiday and the traditions of her extended family. Weinstein employs YaYa’s voice as the very believable and delightful narrator and carefully avoids didacticism as she introduces readers to some of the rituals and traditions of Judaism as they are practiced in a warm, loving family. She incorporates humor too, as YaYa mishears and misinterprets the Hebrew word for repentance, “t’shuvah” and turns it into “shoebox,” causing all sorts of confusion. Intended as the first in a series; more adventures of YaYa and YoYo will be most welcome. (Fiction. 8-12)