Ellie Silver (YaYa) doesn’t think she believes in superstition. Yet it seems like lately everywhere she goes and everything she touches brings bad luck. She thinks she may have even upset something called the Ayin Hara, also known as “The Evil Eye.” Ellie has been counting down the minutes until she, her twin brother Joel (YoYo), and older brother Jeremy will be in their favorite aunt’s wedding. But with all the unfortunate events leading up to the wedding, Ellie wonders if it will just be one gigantic disaster. And how much of that will be her fault? She needs to figure out how to get rid of the bad luck--and fast! In this third book in a series, an aun­t's wed­ding sets the stage for this delight­ful fam­i­ly to teach mid­dle grade read­ers about life in a tra­di­tion­al Jew­ish fam­i­ly. This par­tic­u­lar fam­i­ly approach­es life with a sense of adven­ture and humor as well as a mega-dose of good val­ues and com­mon sense. Twins Ellie and Joel — nick­named YaYa and YoYo based on their Hebrew names, Yael and Yoel — and their old­er broth­er, Jere­my, pre­pare for the wed­ding of their aunt and soon-to-be uncle with a sense of excite­ment and awe. They are thrilled to be asked to be an inte­gral part of the cer­e­mo­ny and cel­e­bra­tion. But, in spite of her antic­i­pa­tion and her efforts to be of help, YaYa is plagued with a run of bad luck in the weeks lead­ing up to the wed­ding, includ­ing break­ing her arm and near­ly ruin­ing the gor­geous ketubah her moth­er, an artist, is mak­ing for the new cou­ple. She becomes absolute­ly ter­ri­fied that she will cause all kinds of dis­as­ters at the wed­ding itself and com­plete­ly ruin the day. As Jew­ish rit­u­al and tra­di­tion are an impor­tant part of the fam­i­ly's life and are inte­gral parts of a Jew­ish wed­ding, YaYa feels that her only recourse is to plunge into the world of old-time Jew­ish super­sti­tion and try to avert the evil eye in order to save the wed­ding from cat­a­stro­phe. She research­es every pos­si­ble amulet, charm, and bit of folk­lore. and takes each one to heart. In spite of a few com­i­cal mishaps accom­pa­nied by joy­ful laugh­ter, the wed­ding is a spec­tac­u­lar suc­cess. The joy­ous fam­i­ly cel­e­brates and the read­er has a grand time learn­ing about Jew­ish wed­ding cus­toms, includ­ing their asso­ci­at­ed vocab­u­lary, as well as learn­ing how to help a shy and fear­ful friend, and maybe even a few new knock-knock jokes, too. Michal Hoschan­der Malen Jewish Book Council High­ly rec­om­mend­ed for ages 8 to 12. [Hoopla Under the Huppah] has a great deal of middle school humor and amazement; many puns; and a series of misadventures both imagined and real. It can serve as a resource for a class on Jewish Life Cycles or to educate students who have upcoming family weddings and is well suited to middle-grade readers who have graduated from other Jewish wedding books like Don't Sneeze at the Wedding (Kar-Ben, 2013) and The Flower Girl Wore Celery (Kar-Ben, 2016). Association of Jewish Libraries Dori Weinstein is an award-winning author who grew up in Queens, New York. She is a graduate of Binghamton University (SUNY Binghamton) and Teachers College, Columbia University. Dori taught in public schools in New York City as well as at the Talmud Torah Day School in St. Paul, Minnesota. Dori enjoys visiting schools around the country where she teaches about Jewish books, writing, and publishing. She also teaches Hebrew music to preschoolers while continuing to create more adventures in the YaYa & YoYo series. Dori lives in Minneapolis with her husband Gary and their three children (when they're home, which is not very often). Visit Dori on Facebook, Twitter, and on her website at www.yayayoyo.com.