All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown

Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House books will enjoy a citified version as Sydney Taylor gives a charming glimpse at a time when daily life was very different, but family and faith were surprisingly the same.  Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie are back! Life is never dull for the loving, Jewish, all-of-a-kind family on New York’s Lower East Side in the early 1900s. Stand-alone chapters make this a perfect read-aloud, as the story follows the five sisters who are very busy, especially now that baby Charlie is growing so quickly. Ella gets a big role in the Purim play, Henny gets into trouble at school and runs away, Sarah gets her ears pierced, Charlotte has a scary kitchen accident, and Gertie finally is old enough to have a book of her own. And the girls befriend a young boy named Guido whose mother is very ill.   Generations of readers have loved following the exploits of these very recognizable girls. This title, although written later, picks up right where the first, All-of-a-Kind Family, ended.