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Comments for Arrowsmith
All-of-a-Kind Family: 07/11/08
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: Passover, Purim and so forth.
The book is more than just a primer for American Jewish culture and religion. It is a heartwarming story of a family facing the day to day struggles that any family faces: illness, finance, emotional upheaval and just the general chaos of parenting children.
The mother plays a more active role in this book. She comes up with an ingenious way to make the girls do their cleaning chores (something I plan to implement with my two children when they are a little older), the frustration of a child who suddenly refuses to eat (another thing I have in common with her), the personal sacrifices a parent will make when a child is ill and finally the exhaustion of parenting while pregnant. I really enjoyed getting to know her better.
All of these threads are woven through the fabric of Europe on the verge of WWI. Reading All-of-a-Kind Family will give one an appreciation for what life was like more than 90 years ago.
Read reviews of the book at Disco Mom Takes on the World, Coming Up for Air, Mt. Hope Chronicles.
books | childrens | 1951 | sydney taylor
Comments (4)
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Comment #1: Saturday, July, 12, 2008 at 11:53:03
I just recollected the whole series (not sure what happened to the copies I used to own) and was staring at them the other day thinking I needed to give them another read through! GREAT memories of this series as I was growing up. Fun, fun!"
Comment #2: Saturday, July, 12, 2008 at 13:54:25
I've been checking them out from my local library but I may break down some day and buy the entire set."
Comment #3: Saturday, July, 12, 2008 at 12:15:30
I've had this book sitting on the shelf for quite some time now. I wonder why I never read it when I was young. Someday I will correct that. Soon, I hope."
Comment #4: Saturday, July, 12, 2008 at 13:59:10
Read it a chapter a night; that's what I did. Happy reading."