A Flame Burns On: Lighting the Yahrzeit Candle

The Jewish memorial candle, “tucked in a glass cup” and lit on the anniversary of a loved one’s death, illuminates Ho and Ben Ami’s affecting story of a young narrator honoring a beloved uncle. Quietly poetic text explains that the yahrzeit candle “has just enough wax/ and a long enough wick/ to last for one whole day.” Impressionistic mixed-media illustrations suffused with light depict sweet recollections of the brown-skinned family (at a campfire, together during a lightning storm, around a birthday cake “lit up with joy”) as well as the bittersweet closeness that comes from narrator and mother remembering the uncle together: “Sometimes we cry./ Sometimes we laugh./ Most times, we do both.” The setting moves from the warm glow of home to a cemetery where the mother places a stone on the grave site, another Jewish ritual that echoes the candle’s promise of remembrance. This gentle meditation shows how connection endures in recalling lost loved ones. Characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Creators’ notes ground the story in personal experience. Ages 4–8. (May)