Good, clean, down-to-earth series. A YA read for all ages.

I loved being back with this family.

Hilarious first chapter!

Henny grew on me a bit in this book because she’s the one who’s so good with youngest sibling and only brother Charlie. It’s always been Sarah & Ella and Charlotte & Gertie and now I feel as though Henny has a pairing too. Also, I admired Henny’s role in the play and her ability to work with others and help implement original ideas.

It was fun to watch the kids grow up. I’m still particularly fond of Sarah, and of Ella, but all the daughters had a bit of the spotlight in this book.

I’m still deciding whether or not to read the Downtown and Ella books. I’ve loved the original, More, and this Uptown so much, and I’ve been told the other two have a different writing style. They were written long after the three I’ve read. Some people have recommended I skip them; others have encouraged me to read them. If I do read the remaining two books, it’s likely that it won’t be in the near future.

In this book, I learned a bit about what the WWI era was like in NYC.

As with the other books in this series, this book would make for a perfect family (or classroom) and/or bedtime read aloud. Each chapter works wonderfully on its own, as a short story, while at the same time contributing to the novel as a whole.

At the beginning of the 4th book in the series, the family has saved enough to move up to the Bronx where they enjoy electric lights and a more spacious apartment. For the first time they have neighbors who are not Jewish, the girls are learning how to navigate the subway system, and the older two girls expand their social life with boy-girl parties. They have to deal with more serious times as Ella’s boyfriend, Jules, enlists in the service and is sent overseas to fight the Germans. However, the children still get into amusing predicaments for readers to enjoy.

Lovely story of family and real wholesome experiences. Wonderful true story of live at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Raise your hand if you’re experiencing 2020 burnout! I thought so. I hit the wall about a month ago and am plodding along to the end of the year. Yesterday was a crisp, fall day where in synagogues everywhere in the world, we blessed the arrival of the month of Kislev. Kislev means Chanukah and that means miracles and light. I am beyond excited for Chanukah this year because I need something bright in my life even if it is only for eight days and nights. Last year on Chanukah I treated myself to the set of All of a Kind Family books by Sydney Taylor. They are the literally the books of my childhood, and I have been reading through them to bring a smile to my face.

All of a Kind Family was the first chapter book I read on my own. I want to pinpoint the date but I had to have been between six and eight. The original book came out when my mom was six and she grew up reading the series as well and passed the joy of it on to me. This series is about the daughters of Jewish immigrants from Germany and is the story of author Sydney Taylor’s family. Five girls all two years apart in age grow up in the tenements of the Lower East Side. The father runs a junk shop and the mother keeps an impeccable house that Jewish mothers of today would be envious of. Although poor, the family never lacked and the girls made up their own adventures and memories, so even in tough times, they never realized that they lacked for anything. Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie, a steps and stairs family that I grew up wishing I could be a part of.

In Uptown, the fourth book in the series, the family moves to the Bronx. Papa’s junk shop has been successful and he desires to move the family to better surroundings. The family purchases a seven room flat, sharing a home with their downstairs neighbors the Healys. Uncle Hyman and Aunt Lena move a few blocks away so the family remains close, and many other aunts and uncles get the idea to move from the tenements to the Bronx. The United States had been good to this wave of Jewish immigrants escaping from the revolutions and uncertainties in Eastern Europe, and now they could truly call themselves Americans. In this installment, Ella is nearly seventeen and preparing to graduate from high school. Her beau Jules enlists in the army, and this becomes a central storyline of the book. Although Taylor told most of the story through middle sister Sarah’s eyes, I could always relate the most to Ella- oldest daughter, loves being Jewish and teaches Sunday school, beautiful voice. As the oldest, she has more stories as her role is no longer completely centered on the family. This role becomes clearer toward the end of the book, and Taylor had this in mind as well as the last installment of the series is about Ella and how she intends to make her way in the world.

In the Bronx, Henny finds new ways to get into mischief although she happens to be the best at taking care of youngest brother Charlie. Sarah remains the model student, and Charlotte and Gertie are dutiful daughters who look to have bright futures. The Healy family have one daughter Grace who is the same age as Ella, and the girls become close friends, showing how people of different religions can get along when focusing on similarities rather than differences. Taylor teaches Jewish customs to her non Jewish readers through the Healys’ eyes in a way that younger girls can understand. Even one as now well versed as myself can appreciate the care it took to explain traditions to non Jews without treading on anyone’s toes. Even after many a reading these books remain the favorites they were in my youth.

With 2020 coming to a merciful end soon, I am all too happy to reread favorite books. There is no better feeling than curling up with a book I know the ending to and read about the adventures that I spent many hours with growing up. I only have one installment of the stories of Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie left to read and I’m sure it will be my swan song to this year that can not end soon enough. Of course, that means that I will have to start the series and read it again as the girls’ stories invoke all of my childhood memories. My only regret is that Sydney Taylor did not continue the series with more stories about these girls as they navigated what it meant to be a Jewish American into adulthood and a new generation of children, both their own and the ones reading these wonderful books.

✨ 5 stars ✨

Loved it! Loved it so much I started to wonder what happened to Taylor that her writing took such a nosedive in later years (when she went back to write All of a Kind Family Downtown?)

Such a wonderful story, with the romance and The War. I think Ella must be just a skosh younger than Betsy Ray of the Betsy-Tacy series. Henny remains, for me, the least likable of the sisters. Here she's up to her usual tricks. But Mama is magnificent, as always.

There's more of the Jewish religion explained- many customs and traditions are included here, much to the edification of young heathens like me. One assumes there are still young heathens to be edified.

Highly recommended!

My favorite, from the All of a Kind Family-probably because it encompasses the first world war, and I had few books set in that timeline that were actually good to read! It holds a more mature depth, while the world turns upside down and the girls enter womanhood. Sweet, heartwarming.

1917-1919 - Bronx, NYC. The family are trying to doing their best during wartime. Mama stays in the hospital for some time, Ella's romance with Jules is getting more serious, and Sarah aims to win the history prize in her class. A lovely addition to the series. I love these books.

Rachel (age 8) and I read this together. It is the Jewish family in the early 20th century. The have moved from New York's lower East Side to the Bronx. The older girls deal with dating, and their beaux going off to war.

Jul. 2024 - read to E - not his favorite in the series, but still enjoyable

Precious. I loved the WWI time period and especially the sweet love between young soldiers and their girls back home!

Best one since the first one. I don't for sure know what year I first read this but as soon as I read the first scene where they end up in the wrong apartment I recognized it immediately. The Gentile neighbors and wartime troubles add more depth to this one than other sequels I've read so far...normal as the girls are growing up. I'm so enjoying revisiting this series.