All-Of-A-Kind Family Downtown

Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, Gertie and Charlie are back! In the fourth installment in the All-of-a-Kind Family series—a prequel, set right after the first book—Ella gets a big part in the Purim play, Henny gets into trouble at school and runs away from home, Sarah gets her ears pierced, Charlotte has a scary accident in the kitchen, and Gertie gets her very first book. Meanwhile, the girls are helping Mama to raise baby Charlie while also befriending Guido, a fatherless Italian boy in the neighborhood whose mother is ill. Sydney Taylor’s iconic mixture of humor and the celebration of family life is on full display in All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown, which lovingly evokes the Jewish world of the turn of the century Lower East Side.

Born in 1904 on New York’s Lower East Side, Sydney Taylor was one of the first authors of children’s books centered on Jewish characters, and is especially known for the immensely popular All-of-a-Kind Family series. The Sydney Taylor Book Award is given each year by the Jewish Association of Libraries to a book for young people that authentically portrays the Jewish experience.