Lar­ry Nein­stein calls upon his expe­ri­ences as a grand­fa­ther and a can­tor in writ­ing this book. Bel­la is a curi­ous young lady who wants to know why her ​“Zei­de” is wear­ing white sneak­ers on Yom Kip­pur. Each time she asks the ques­tion, Zei­de explains anoth­er aspect of the Rosh Hashana/​Yom Kip­pur hol­i­day sea­son in sim­ple straight­for­ward lan­guage. Younger chil­dren will be drawn to lis­ten to the explana­tions of the chal­lah, apples, etc. in antic­i­pa­tion of the response to Bella’s ini­tial ques­tion, ​“Why are you wear­ing white ten­nis shoes on Yom Kip­pur?” The book con­cludes with Zei­de explain­ing the sim­plic­i­ty of Yom Kip­pur and the need to focus on fam­i­ly and friends. 

The water­col­or images cre­at­ed by Bubar are real­is­tic and bright. Bella’s and Zeide’s shoes are a recur­ring visu­al through­out the book, inter­twined with round chal­lah, apples and hon­ey, immi­grants, and more. The syn­a­gogue scene has only males lead­ing the ser­vice. In the tal­lit- and kipah-wear­ing con­gre­ga­tion, there are what appear to be two females, but may also be two men with long hair, mak­ing it applic­a­ble to all denominations. 

Rec­om­mend­ed for ages 4 – 7.