It is 1912 and the five daughters of an immigrant family living on New York and the hopes of these girls as to careers, weddings, and adulthood in ...
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Jul 11, 2008
Sarah
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Back in April I read and reviewed All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown by Sydney Taylor. Having so enjoyed it I went back to read the first in the series, All-of-a-Kind Family.
This first novel introduces the family, five girls, who jokingly call themselves an "all-of-a-kind" family since they don't have any brothers. As with the Uptown novel, the is told as a series of vignettes over the course of a year. One can track the timeline by following the Jewish holidays they celebrate: Pa More...
This first novel introduces the family, five girls, who jokingly call themselves an "all-of-a-kind" family since they don't have any brothers. As with the Uptown novel, the is told as a series of vignettes over the course of a year. One can track the timeline by following the Jewish holidays they celebrate: Pa More...
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Jan 13, 2009
Jennifer
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I just introduced this stellar series to a fourth grade Little House reader and she came back with stars in her eyes. Ella, Henny, Charlotte, Sarah, Gertie and Charlie, the sweetest little family on the Lower East Side, you did it again.
Dec 13, 2008
Luann
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All-of-a-Kind Family is another book I would have loved when I was younger - such a nice, wholesome story. I probably would have had to rush right out and find all of the All-of-a-Kind books. I still enjoyed the book very much reading it for the first time as an adult, and wouldn't mind reading more of them sometime. I really liked that although the family was poor, they were very happy and their lack of "things" wasn't a huge issue for them like it is in some stories. I also reall
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Aug 23, 2011
Laura
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My great-aunt Ruth gave us books for Christmas -- usually the first in a series. Examples include Paddington, Little House in the Big Woods,, and Anne of Green Gables. I don't remember if she introduced Sydney Taylor to us, or if it was just a lucky purchase on our annual we're-going-on-vacation-so-Mom-will-buy-us-books adventure. I definitely remember reading this book on vacation.
I recommended this book to Jason -- it had been out-of-print when he was a toddler but had been reissued whil More...
I recommended this book to Jason -- it had been out-of-print when he was a toddler but had been reissued whil More...
Apr 15, 2011
Kate
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"All-of-a-Kind Family" is a wonderful children's book, following a young Jewish family in early 1900s New York. Each chapter is a short story in itself, a vignettes of a certain season or event in the lives of five sisters - eldest Ella, mischievous Henny, studious Sarah, daydreamer Charlotte, and little Gertie.
I first read "All-of-a-Kind Family" as a child, and loved it. Having no sisters myself, I was captivated by the sisters' interactions. Also, growing up in a More...
I first read "All-of-a-Kind Family" as a child, and loved it. Having no sisters myself, I was captivated by the sisters' interactions. Also, growing up in a More...
Sep 16, 2010
Maureen
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by Sidney Taylor
I really love this family. It's one of those where I can believe that the girls would really both bicker and love each other as they do. And actually, there's not a lot of bickering. I think my favorite has always been Ella, just because she's the oldest and so am I (I tend to really identify with oldest children in books. Yes, I have problems with fairy tales.)
I also loved and love the glimpse into another culture. The family are observant Jews and t More...
I really love this family. It's one of those where I can believe that the girls would really both bicker and love each other as they do. And actually, there's not a lot of bickering. I think my favorite has always been Ella, just because she's the oldest and so am I (I tend to really identify with oldest children in books. Yes, I have problems with fairy tales.)
I also loved and love the glimpse into another culture. The family are observant Jews and t More...
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Jul 21, 2010
Miriam
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Feb 23, 2010
Allyse
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I always tell my class that my love affair with books began with A Wrinkle in Time, but until this book was posted I almost had forgotten that the librarian in my town had this book at the ready for me (along with the others in the series) when I walked into the library every week. This is the first book that I read MORE than twice each year. I LOVED this book.
It seems odd saying I loved it because it's a very straight forward tale of a group of sisters set in New York in the hmmm More...
It seems odd saying I loved it because it's a very straight forward tale of a group of sisters set in New York in the hmmm More...
Mar 14, 2010
Anne
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I don't think I could possibly give this book less than 5 stars. I realized as I was re-reading it for the first time in years just how many times I had actually read it. Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie are very old, very dear friends of mine. I have my favorite chapters ("The Sabbath"--Arbis! Shaynicke, gutinke arbislach!--"Purim Play," "Succos," "Rainy Day"), and I was anticipating even phrases that would come up in the next pages.
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Apr 10, 2008
Martha
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I loved this book (and the sequels) when I read them as a young girl. They're a well-written and entertaining account of events in the lives of a Jewish family on the Lower East Side in the early part of the 1900s. Some of the stories have morals, while others just describe life in the era. Strong on details and on character (each character has her own personality and opinions).
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Mar 18, 2008
Laura
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I read these books religiously and Ella was my favorite since she's the headstrong one. For years I used to dream of traveling to New York's Eastside on market day to buy a pickle with a nickel...
When I got older I ate Salmon Skin and it was nowhere near as delicious as the book made it sound but I still love my little Jewish family.
When I got older I ate Salmon Skin and it was nowhere near as delicious as the book made it sound but I still love my little Jewish family.
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Oct 18, 2007
Kathryn
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Charming, sweet, heartwarming and thoughtful! This entire series is a gem. The family is so sweet, so tight-knit. While the book is a pure pleasure to read simply because you will love the family so much, it's also interesting from a historical/social standpoint to read about early 1900s America and this Jewish family's experience.
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Mar 13, 2011
Klippels
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All of a Kind Family is a genuine treasure and must read for the family. As we started to read it as a family my daughter Gwyneth enjoyed listening to it so much, she took it during the day and finished it up. I couldn't resist either, I also read ahead and finished it too. Set in the turn of the century this book is simply about a sweet family. There is a mother, father, and five little girls. What I enjoyed so much about this book was the children's adoration for their parents, espe More...
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Dec 29, 2007
Giselle
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This is one of my all-time favorite children's books from when I was little. :) I loved how the family faced everything together and found frugal ways to have fun. Since they were Jewish, I also learned a lot from their family holiday traditions. This is one I love to pick up at McKay and pass on to friends. :)
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Apr 06, 2010
Skylar
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This children’s novel, set in the early nineteen hundreds in New York City, follows a year in the life of an orthodox Jewish family with five daughters. It provides a good overview to most of the Jewish holidays and was a good way of introducing my daughter to Jewish customs. (She kept asking me, however, why only the dad went to synagogue, and I wasn’t sure of the answer.) I personally didn’t find it very interesting; it’s slow-paced and not written in a particularly alluring style, and, on the
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Sep 16, 2011
Joan
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I read this series many times as a child. I loved the glimpse of a time and culture unfamiliar to me. Quarantines? While it turned out my Dad had been quarantined as a kid for Measles I think, he promptly slipped out of the house via a tree branch and played with neighborhood kids. But I only found that out as an adult, and never had read about the effects on a family before. Dusting for PENNIES? Even as a child a penny was peanuts. Splitting up a candy store order based on half pennies? See com
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May 15, 2010
David
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While this book is valuable as a look at growing up in New York at the turn of the Century and especially for growing up Jewish then, it has too many politically incorrect parts for me. Examples like: "Polack, who had the heavy body and the broad stolid face of a polish peasant."
"Joe, a swarthy Italian," says: "Mucha rain! Bah! No gooda for business!" Picklenose... It's all too much for me in a time when certain Americans want to divide us by our differences r More...
"Joe, a swarthy Italian," says: "Mucha rain! Bah! No gooda for business!" Picklenose... It's all too much for me in a time when certain Americans want to divide us by our differences r More...
Feb 07, 2012
Lisa
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Each chapter in this book about a family with five girls is another vignette in their lives over the course of a year, covering major Jewish holidays and depicting tenement life at the turn of the century. I was able to predict a plot twist well before it arrived, but I don't know if a young reader would (now that's one question to ask during book club!).
The time period as well as all the stereotypes will make this a good book to discuss. I did like Mama's ingenuity and the love the f More...
The time period as well as all the stereotypes will make this a good book to discuss. I did like Mama's ingenuity and the love the f More...
May 08, 2011
Wendy Darling
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This is a series I reread every year. No one else has ever captured the early 1900's in the Jewish Upper East side of New York like this, and it's fascinating to read about the holidays and customs and everyday life that this little troop of girls experiences. I still wish I could walk through those streets teeming with peddlers selling big dill pickles, candied orange slices, and spiced chick peas!
These books are great for those who love old-fashioned stories about growing up, like More...
These books are great for those who love old-fashioned stories about growing up, like More...
Dec 03, 2010
Cami
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I give this four stars for education content.
This is a sweet slice-of-life tale of a young, large Jewish family living on the Lower East side of New York City at the turn of the century.
While reading, you get to follow around five little sisters through the neighborhood they knew at that time as well as a trip to Coney Island. The details are wonderful and kept on child-like terms, yet were still completely enjoyable and informative to me.
I read this with my 6 yr old daughter a More...
This is a sweet slice-of-life tale of a young, large Jewish family living on the Lower East side of New York City at the turn of the century.
While reading, you get to follow around five little sisters through the neighborhood they knew at that time as well as a trip to Coney Island. The details are wonderful and kept on child-like terms, yet were still completely enjoyable and informative to me.
I read this with my 6 yr old daughter a More...
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Sep 15, 2010
Tracy
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This is another reread from childhood. I remember reading this as a childhood and my mouth watering over the food the family ate. I was also so envious of the fun they had. Pretty incredible since author describes them as a poor Jewish family, bursting out of their little apartment living during pre WW1 in NYC's Lower East Side. Because of the small community I grew up in, reading this book in elementary school was sadly my first exposure to to Jewish culture. (It is no wonder that because of th
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Mar 01, 2010
Chris
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I've been going through all these books mentioned in Shelf Discovery, and most of them were just as good as I remember them being. This one let me down a little. It was a little too old fashioned and cutesy for me now. But at the time, they were some of my favorite books. As an only child, I wanted four sisters to play with, and growing up in a small midwestern town made up of Lutherans, Catholics and the occasional exotic Methodist, it taught me all about Jewish people, which I probably kne
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Oct 23, 2008
Michelle
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I am currently reading this book to Froggy. It was one of my favorite books when I first started reading real books.
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Jan 16, 2011
Shannon
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One of those cute, happy children's books that contains quite a bit of merit. I love the author's respect for "Mama" and Mama's creative incentives for chores. I also loved seeing Mama insist that her Sarah take responsibility for her actions and make wrongs right herself instead of depending on her mother. Culture and history of a time period unfamiliar to most of today's children pleasantly make their entrance. The All-Of-A-Kind Family are practicing Jews in New York City's East
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Jul 03, 2010
Emily
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Of all the books I have fond memories of reading (or having them read to me) as a child-I am most fond of this one. It is the incredibly endearing set of stories about a little Jewish family with 5 girls growing up poor but happy in the East Side of New York. I just read it to Samantha and she loved it as well. I read it so many times as a girl that I still think of some stories on a regular basis-Sarah having to eat the soup before she could having anything else-the lost library book-buying
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Feb 08, 2012
AP
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Appropriate and fascinating book for 6-10 year olds. Very charming stories about a Jewish family on the lower east side of NYC during the early 1900s. I would consider this work similar to the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder but about Jews living in the tenements of the lower east side. The writing, descriptions provide an immersive sense of place, time, and culture. I felt like I was walking through the streets with this lovely family. I really enjoyed this book. My only hesitation
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Feb 25, 2010
Mary
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I had forgotten about this book until I saw it on a list of the top 10 children's books. An innocent picture of the lives of a Jewish family in New York City in the early 1900s. I remember reading this as a kid and wishing I could visit the market street and eat soda crackers and sour pickles.
Interesting to read now and see how cleverly the author integrated bits about Jewish customs and holidays into the story.
Definitely a "girly" story (since there are 5 daughters in th More...
Interesting to read now and see how cleverly the author integrated bits about Jewish customs and holidays into the story.
Definitely a "girly" story (since there are 5 daughters in th More...
Oct 10, 2011
Nik
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I loved this story growing up. I grew up in a small, rural town, and this was one of my first introductions to historical fiction. I was fascinated by the idea of turn of the century New York, as well as by the Jewish holidays and customs described in the story.
As an adult, I actually spent years keeping my eye out for a copy of this story at used book stores. I was so happy when I found one, especially when I reread it and found that it had aged well. I still found the characters More...
As an adult, I actually spent years keeping my eye out for a copy of this story at used book stores. I was so happy when I found one, especially when I reread it and found that it had aged well. I still found the characters More...
Jul 25, 2011
Alison
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This was a lovely little book. It's about a Jewish family living in the tenements of New York City around the turn of the century. The five daughters in the family have wonderful personalities and the little vignettes about their life as a family are really charming and enjoyable to read. There are a few parts that definitely date the book such as the "freak show" at the beach where all the "freaks" come out of the tent. You wouldn't see that in a children's book these da
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Aug 01, 2011
Gundula
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A heart-warming, gently humorous and informative family story, my one main regret is that I only recently discovered Sydney Taylor's All-of-a-Kind Family (I would have loved this delightful story as a child, or a teenager, and am now keener than ever about reading the rest of the series).
Wonderful, delightful episodes show the joys, the struggles and the close family and neighbourhood ties of a Jewish-American family in early 20th century New York City. I love how the different Je More...
Wonderful, delightful episodes show the joys, the struggles and the close family and neighbourhood ties of a Jewish-American family in early 20th century New York City. I love how the different Je More...
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