Wish I'd had access to this series as a young reader - I would have loved it.
Reminds me of the Betsy/Tacy Series.

Here are more charming stories of a Jewish family in New York City in the early nineteen hundreds.The five sisters and their baby brother have many adventures. The most important was befriending an orphan Italian boy.

I’m always partial to the first book of a series, so I’m not surprised this book isn’t quite as good as the first to me, but I loved being reunited with the characters and the traditions. Every chapter is a feel-good story of its own.

Apparently *this* is book two and chronologically was written 2nd, but the publishers didn't publish it for years because it is "grittier" than the 1st. How deep was the privilege of that publisher when it came to the telling of the author's own story?
For all the complaints I read about this being a throw away in the series I was impressed. Yes, Taylor takes us to the less sweet experience of life in NYC pre-WWI, but that didn't make it less fun than the other books in the story. Henny, poor Henny. Always making poor choices. This isn't a throw away, it is just another layer of the all-of-a-kind family story.
Quick, wholesome, sweet read about a Jewish family in New York. It taught me a lot, as every book in the series does. Recommend it as highly as the 1st and 3rd book in the series.

In this fourth-published but second-in-order book of the series, we rejoin Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, Gertie, and Charlie are a year older than the first book (All of A Kind Family) and are living life on NYC's Lower Eastside. Everyone loves Baby Charlie, the girls get into their own scrapes, and Taylor weaves in Jewish holidays and customs for the rest of us to learn as we read. I would suggest reading the books in chronological order, unlike my choice to read in publication order. Oops!

I really didn't enjoy this book at all. I am rating it 2 stars because my son really has been enjoying the series even if I haven't.

Favorite series from childhood! Learned so much about Jewish culture, NYC, and what life was like in the early 1900s. Had a blast re-reading these with my own kids.

The All-of-a-Kind Family books were some of my mother's favorites growing up so of course I read them as a child. I recently re-read them and still enjoyed them as an adult. There are some parts of them that are rather problematic from a religious tolerance perspective but in general they stand the test of time and are sweet well written books.

To date, I have read All of a Kind Family, All of a Kind Family Downtown, More All of a Kind Family and All of a Kind Family Uptown. This is my favorite of the four, speaking strictly as an adult reader. Compared to the other titles, it feels more down-to-earth and less romanticized in its depictions of the difficulties of immigrant life on the Lower East Side of Manhattan around 1910. While all of the books are charming, this one does not gloss over the hard life people experienced. Poverty, illness and death were commonplace in all immigrant neighborhoods (and to some extent, still are) and we are not spared here from those realities.

The family, consisting of five sisters, a baby brother, father and mother, live in slightly better circumstances than some of their neighbors. They are observant Jews, and the holidays are beautifully explained and depicted. In this book, we hear more of Irish and Italian neighbors than we did in the first book, and in fact, a young boy named Guido plays an important role in the story. Guido is extremely poor. His father is dead, and his mother, who does piecework at home for a garment factory, has become very ill and can't work anymore.

Ella, the oldest sister of our family, and her Mama pay a visit to Guido and his mother, bringing food and a small sum of money in case it is needed. Guido and the mother live in a back tenement, a building built behind the one facing the street. These were often the poorest and ill-cared for dwellings that can be found in a neighborhood that is already impoverished throughout because they tended to have even less light and air than the street front buildings. An illustration in the book depicts a slovenly rear yard with refuse, ashcans and alley cats.

Ella is sent to bring Miss Carey from the Settlement House and a doctor. Guido's mother is so ill she is hospitalized. The eventual outcome is as you might expect and it is heartbreaking. For a children's book, this is a story that will require special attention from parents and teachers to its young readers as they may find it upsetting.

There is more. Middle sister Henny's exploits and difficult personality are forthrightly addressed and we also learn about Miss Carey's sad back story.

Despite the difficult story line there are also celebrations of the Jewish holidays that all can enjoy. There are many lessons in this book, told with realism, but also with gentleness. As an adult reader, I found it very moving and in many ways, very contemporary. I would be careful though, in reading it with children who may find some of the events upsetting.

Chalk up another crushing disappointment to re-reading an old favorite. I'm certainly still fond of the characters, but this book feels awkward. The dialogue is stilted, the plot clunky, and the illustrations just stink. There's certainly a place for Beth and Joe Krush, I love their work in several books- but their drawings here make my teeth hurt- their free, almost messy style doesn't gibe with Mama's bandbox neatness.

This one's not going back on my shelf (which is to say, goodreads friends, if you want it, it's yours).

These books are teaching me so much valuable info now that i live in a 70% orthodox neighborhood

This book was an easier listen than the first in the series. I’m not sure if it was truly faster paced or if I’m growing more interested the more I learn about the All-of-a-Kind family. I love the insight it gives to life in the past, as well as life in a Jewish family. There are lots of funny capers and scrapes the girls get into, with good moral lessons woven in.