Chil­dren are often fas­ci­nat­ed but also some­what con­fused by the light of a yahrzeit can­dle, the tra­di­tion­al can­dle lit on the anniver­sary of the death of a loved one in order to remem­ber them and ensure the light they once shone con­tin­ues to illu­mi­nate the world.

This pic­ture book, with its syn­the­sis of both bright and sub­dued col­or, explains the tra­di­tion in terms a child can under­stand and inte­grate and it con­veys a sense of love, respect, and remem­brance for those fam­i­ly mem­bers no longer in our lives but still in our hearts.

Each of the young girl’s mem­o­ries are suf­fused with the joys of time spent togeth­er. Talk­ing with her moth­er and shar­ing spe­cial thoughts about the one they miss are depict­ed as essen­tial ele­ments of the process. Con­nec­tions are made and savored; the con­nec­tions are impor­tant now and will hap­pi­ly and health­ily con­tin­ue on into the future. This whole­some and essen­tial treat­ment of what can be a dif­fi­cult sub­ject helps demys­ti­fy death, focus­ing on rela­tion­ships, incor­po­rat­ing mem­o­ries, and fea­tur­ing the neces­si­ty of mov­ing on.

An append­ed author’s note teach­es more about the yahrzeit tra­di­tion, focus­ing on its abil­i­ty to cel­e­brate life. Richard Ho ties his per­son­al expe­ri­ence to Jew­ish his­to­ry and to the gen­er­a­tions before him with care and gen­tle emo­tion. This is a beau­ti­ful book on an impor­tant topic.