Who will tell the sto­ry when the sur­vivors are gone? Although there is a Sec­ond Gen­er­a­tion group, not all are able or will­ing to be mes­sen­gers, which is why this book will affect read­ers of all ages. Ever since young Eli can remem­ber, the first evening of Rosh Hashanah, a hap­py hol­i­day, includ­ed the light­ing of sev­en, not two can­dles, and then tears — first from his great grand­par­ents, lat­er, from his grand­par­ents; and even in his own home— always the same thing. No one ever answered his ques­tion: ​“Why?” Final­ly, his par­ents told him that they were all going to vis­it the town where great-grand­moth­er Gussie had come from, in Lithua­nia. It was at that time, in that place, in good time, that the rea­son for the tears is revealed to him — and he, Eli, promis­es to assume the oblig­a­tion to tell their sto­ry. The text is spare and sen­si­tive; the illus­tra­tions are so pow­er­ful, so tuned to the momen­tum of the sto­ry — that I can truth­ful­ly say that they are per­fect. This is a won­der­ful book. Ages 10 – adult.