Thrill-loving fifth grader Ellie Silver (YaYa) has been waiting all summer to visit the brand new indoor water park in town. She is ecstatic when her best friend, Megan, invites her to go-that is until her twin brother, Joel (YoYo), points out that Megan is going on Rosh Hashanah. Sure, Rosh Hashanah is a big deal, but so is Splash World! What will Ellie do? 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) Kirkus Reviews "A contemporary style and point of view that connect present-day pluralistic Judaism to the unbroken chain of Jewish beliefs and customs are at the story's heart." 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 writing and publishing. When she is not traveling or creating more adventures of YaYa & YoYo, she teaches Hebrew music to preschoolers.