Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family

All-of-a-Kind Family #5

by Sydney Taylor, Gail Owens (Illustrator)

When Ella starts singing and dancing in a vaudeville act it becomes difficult to see much of Jules, who has returned home at the end of World War I

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction, Childrens, Middle Grade, Classics, Jewish, Young Adult

133 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Taylor was born on October 31, 1904 on New York City's Lower East Side. Her Jewish immigrant family lived in poverty conditions, but they felt great respect and appreciation for the country that gave them hope and opportunities for the future. This childhood led Taylor eventually into writing.

Taylor started working as a secretary after she graduated from high school, married her husband, and spent her nights with the Lenox Hill Players, a theater group. As an actress, she also learned modern dance, which she thoroughly enjoyed. After dancing with the Martha Graham Dance Company, Taylor took time off to have her one and only child, a daughter. As her daughter grew up Taylor would tell her stories about her own childhood. Because of her daughter's inquiries, Taylor wrote down her memories and then tucked them away in a drawer.

While Taylor was working at a nonprofit summer camp directing and choreographing dance and dramatics, her husband saw an announcement about a writing contest. Unbeknownst to his wife, he sent in her manuscript about her childhood. A short time later Taylor received word that an editor from Wilcox and Follett wanted to publish her work. Surprised and somewhat nervous, Taylor edited and revised her story, and All-of-a-Kind Family became a popular book. She had also won first prize in the contest. Taylor's success encouraged her to pen four more books in the series and write more short stories for books and magazines.

This author, actress, dancer, and choreographer then passed away from cancer on February 12, 1978. In her honor, 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.

In 2014, the All-of-a-Kind Family series is being re-released for another generation of readers to understand and appreciate Jewish immigrant life at the beginning of the twentieth century.

Reviews

[Brina · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the bright spots of my year was revisiting a childhood favorite series ahead of a new biography about the author being released next year. All of A Kind Family is the perfect read for me for the year 2020. The series was the first chapter book that I read on my own and it is also the book that I grabbed when I was sick in bed all the way through adolescence. With little patience to read any great novels, I craved rereading favorites from all stages of my life. With the year winding down, I finally got to the last book in the series about the oldest daughter Ella. Ella was the character I related to the best because like her I’m the oldest in my family. As a result I often relate to any oldest child in a family best, something I am still working on. Ella’s story represents a changing United States as it moves forward in history, something all of us can be grateful for as we are about to turn the calendar pages on a new year.

Ella has graduated from high school and is working at a secretarial job. Although not glamorous work, it is one of the few jobs available to young women in 1920. Her fiancé Jules has returned from fighting in the Great War and is taking courses to complete college, determined to become a productive member of society. Ella has her mother as a role model and longs to be a wife and mother herself as soon as Jules is ready to get married. Yet, 1920 also brought women’s suffrage and gains to society. Henny successfully runs for and is elected to her class council, the first girl in her school to do so. Two years younger than Ella, she looks forward for the opportunity to vote and perhaps go to college and make something of herself in the world. As a result, she encourages the rest of the girls in her family to become proud suffragettes. Ella is not so sure after noticing Jules’ attitude about votes for women and his determination to be the bread winner of their family. As a result, she is torn between two worlds, and then an opportunity arises that causes Ella to choose between the two things she loves best in the world: Jules and her music.

Ella has always been blessed with a wonderful soprano voice. Her parents sacrificed much to continue to give her voice lessons so that one day she might become an opera star. Readers find out that this may have been mama’s dream, not Ella’s, and the mother is determined to live vicariously through her daughter. After receiving an invitation to perform at a local concert in Albany, Ella captures the attention of a talent scout. Unbeknownst to her, the scout is from the vaudeville circuit, popular at the time, not from the opera. Mama is thrilled, Ella not so sure, as the story arc for the rest of the novel centers on whether Ella should sign a long term contract to perform on the vaudeville circuit or stay home and marry Jules. It is obvious from time that Ella was fourteen and Jules sixteen that they were going to eventually get married, even in books geared toward middle grade readers. How they eventually came to the decision is less straight forward than I expected, but that was the changing world of the 1920s when not everything for women was predetermined from birth. Ella, Henny, and their sisters represent the young women in a country that has come of age.

Sydney Taylor still relays a few Jewish traditions to her readers in this final book in the series, although they have not become as important as in books past. The family still attends synagogue and is primarily affiliated with other Jews; however, with a modernizing world, Jewish practices have modernized as well even though a prominent rabbi once said “America is no different.” This is clear when the family invites their downstairs neighbors the Healys to their Passover Seder, something that would not have been done in the old neighborhood. Modernizing traditions comes to a forefront when Charlie is severely injured in a fall, and the family adds a name to his name to fool the Angel of death from taking his life. This biblical Jewish practice is still done today, although it baffled papa and Ella, and sadly, has been done many times this year; many of those who have had names added have been spared. Thus, Charles becomes Charles Irving and is saved, but this is one of few instances where readers hear of the family. The majority of the book is centered around Ella and her singing and significant life decisions ahead of her.

Sydney Taylor died young before having a chance to complete books featuring the other sisters of the family as well as Charlie. According to biographer June Cummins, Taylor was gifted in the arts as were all of her sisters and all went on to marry and have children of their own. Even though this is the last book featuring this family, I can surmise that Henny sets her sights on a career in politics, Sarah goes to college and becomes a history teacher, Charlotte a prominent fantasy writer, and Gertie as the youngest has four role models and a whole future ahead of her. I may be done with the family’s story this time around, but it is hardly the last time I will read their tale. The story of Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, Gertie, and Charlie is the story of the 20th century Jewish experience as written for middle grade girls, and it is a story I turn to time and again in times of need and comfort.

4 stars

[Melki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though the All-of-a-Kind Family books have been favorites of mine since childhood, I honestly didn't know of this one's existence until I discovered it in the children's section of the library where I work. As it was not published until 1978, I missed out on the book as a youngster. Perhaps I would have liked it then, but reading it as an adult made for a terrible slog. There are few similarities to the earlier novels, and absolutely none of the charm and warmth.

The oldest daughter, Ella, takes center stage for this tale about how her ambitions to become a singer clash with her hopes of marrying Jules. I had zero interest in this story line, which takes up at least 90 % of the book, so that accounts for my low rating. Stories involving other family members seemed rushed and unfinished, and if there were any scenes of the whole family gathering together to celebrate holidays (my favorite), I've forgotten them.

The other books in the series are beloved to me, and I hope to read them all several times more before I exit this planet. This one? Once was enough.

[Melody Schwarting · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's sad to bid farewell to my favorite 1910s New York family once again. And I'm gutted to learn that Sydney Taylor never got to write all the sequels she planned for this autofictional series--one for each sister. It's a strong finish, however, since Ella is the only one who really grew up in the series. Henny hasn't graduated yet, and another baby is on the way, so the story feels as though it's on the same continuum. As June Cummins (Taylor's biographer) points out in her foreword, Taylor gently handles the questions of the suffragette movement and women's changing freedoms in American society.

I love how she reframed Ella's choices. Rather than having to choose marriage or vaudeville, Taylor showed Ella falling out of love with vaudeville. When she receives an invitation to give up vaudeville for a style of music she enjoys more, Ella chooses what is authentic to her skill and desire rather than what she has been told to dream. To her, performing the music she loves in the way she loves is better than making a career by filling someone else's pockets. The implied message that we can still pursue our interests and gifts outside of a career is precious to me as well. I have a lot of hobbies that I have worked hard at over the years, and folks regularly tell me to sell my work and make a career in it. That's not worth it to me--it would take away my creative joy. Similarly, Ella's time in vaudeville took away her joy in singing, and leaving that career was best for her artist's soul. I could see Ella continuing with the choir she joins at the end of the book, and perhaps pursing community theater (not of the vaudeville stripe) in the 1940s and 50s, when she is in her 40s and 50s. "Hobbies" are not meaningless pursuits to fill time. They're often our freest places to create. I love how Taylor (a professional performer herself) honored that with Ella's character. I didn't like this book as much as the others when I read it as a child, but since I've understood the story in a new way, I cherish it more. Though not the intended end to the series, it is a fitting one.

[Christina DeVane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Focus is on Ella and the challenges she faces as she grows up and seeks a career of her own. Some family tales at the beginning with the younger girls cutting their cousin’s hair!😂

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was very excited to find this book, a sequel to "All-of-a-Kind-Family", one of my favorite childhood books. It continues in the spirit of its prequel, but is much shorter and less broad. The author does include some stories about Ella's siblings, but these pleasant little anecdotes almost seem to detract from the major storyline, which shows an interesting conflict between Ella's love of family life and her desire to pursue a career onstage. The tension between her two dreams: becoming a famous singer or getting married and having children is timeless and truly thought-provoking. Unfortunately for women everywhere, there is no easy way out of this quandary, so it is perhaps not entirely the fault of the author that the conclusion seems more like a compromise.

[PinkAmy loves books, cats and naps · Rating 5 out of 5]

ELLA OF ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY concludes Sydney Taylor’s series about a Jewish family in the early 1920s. Second daughter Henny runs for class president amid talks of suffragettes, though eldest Ella is the main focus of the story. Now eighteen, working and taking music lessons, Ella has the opportunity to perform in a traveling vaudeville act but must sign a five year contract that would take her away from Jules.

Written shortly before Taylor’s death, ELLA OF ALL-OF-A-KIND FAMILY holds up best with 21st century literature and is my favorite of the series.

[Sonu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed this whole series and how characters grows in each book.very cozy, family oriented book and came to know so many old ways of life too😍.

[Luisa Knight · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful life lessons in this book for your tween and older girls. Enjoyed this one too!

Ages: 9 - 16

Cleanliness:

Children's Bad Words
Name Calling - 2 Incidents: Lummoxes, half-wits
Religious Profanities - 14 Incidents: Thank goodness, Ye gods, How in heaven’s name, Gee, Gosh, My God, Thank heavens, By golly, Oh, for heaven’s sake

Religious & Supernatural - 2 Incidents: A father tells his son about how Elijah the prophet visits the Jewish families when they celebrate Passover. A father explains about a Jewish tradition of changing a person’s name to confuse the Angel of Death.

Attitudes/Disobedience - 1 Incident: A boy disregards his mother’s caution to stay close to the house and gets seriously injured.

Romance Related - 16 Incidents: There is boy and girl “romantic” interaction throughout the book. They hang out in groups, go dancing, etc. A main character is going steady with a boy, but it is told more matter-of-fact than mushy. There is dancing throughout the book. A girl remembers strolling hand in hand with her boyfriend. A girl is reunited with her boyfriend, just back from the war. Their reuniting is not very romantic as various family members enter the room. They sit together, hold hands, and she plays a love song on the piano. A guy picks a girl up and kisses her cheek. Girls comment on handsome boys at school. Someone kisses a girl on her cheek. “Be my pleasure, baby,” a sleezy coworker says as he puts his arms around Ella. A dancer falls into a man’s lap. “Putting his arm around me every chance he gets! Even pinching me.” Girls talk in a dressing room about a ladies man. A guy holds a girl in his arms. A boy and girl walk with linked arms. A boy and girl kiss on the lips. An unwelcome guy puts his head to close. A boy and girl hug. They hold hands as they walk to the park. He proposes and they kiss.

Conversation Topics - 6 Incidents: Mentions looking like a witch. Women suffragettes, women voting, and women's rights are spoken about when a daughter decides to run for an office at school.While it does come up a couple a times in the book about women leaving the homes and entering into the work places, it's not more feminist than that. A man puffs at his pipe. Mentions wine, a cigarette. A girl gets a flattering offer to enter show business. It’s hard to decide between following her dream or hoping for a future with her boyfriend as man and wife. [Spoiler Alert] She chooses to enter show business. It hurts her relationship with her boyfriend and she discovers what type of people she has to be around (not very good or completely moral-less people) and that everything is not as glamorous as she thought. She learns a valuable lesson and changes her decision. “That’s the male for you, Ella found herself thinking, resenting a woman’s wanting a career outside of housewife and mother. It was selfish, as Jules himself had said.”

Parent Takeaway
A sweet story about a loving family and how the father and mother purposefully run their home. They are devout Jews so the mention and explanation of their celebrations and feasts is part of the story. The narration includes comments in the style of, "Henny knew she was being naughty and felt bad afterwards." There is always conclusions to wrong behaviors. There is dating and dancing in the book. The boy/girl mentions are not fantasized or lengthy. There is a strongly negative portrayal of show business and most of the book is about the oldest daughter learning what matters in life and which life path to take - parents will appreciate the lesson.

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[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the title would indicate, author Sydney Taylor focuses on the eponymous Ella in this, her fifth and final novel devoted to the doings of a loving, close-knit Jewish family living in New York City in the early years of the twentieth century. The book opens some six months after the conclusion of All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown , which ended with Jules and the other American soldiers coming home from World War I. Although there are occasional chapters devoted to the doings of some of her siblings - Henny running for office in her school's elections, Charlie playing a dangerous street game with some older boys - the main narrative focus here is on Ella, who is torn between her desire for a career in singing, and her love for Jules, and longing to make a home with him. As she takes a job with a vaudeville act, she must struggle with this choice...

Apparently many readers dislike this final entry in Taylor's series, which was written some time after the others (all penned in the 1950s), and first published in 1978. For my part, although I do not love it quite as much as its predecessors, I do find it an engaging tale, and have always enjoyed it. I have fond memories, moreover, of discovering it in the window of one of the New York Public Library's branch locations as a girl, when my mother brought me into the city on one of those "take your child to work" days. Although I understand that many readers have found Taylor's resolution of the main narrative question - Ella decides to give up her career on the stage, because she misses Jules so much, and wants to be with him - unsatisfying, or even sexist, I think that it reflects an issue that women continue to grapple with, to this day, and depicts it in a sensitive, nuanced way. Taylor never makes it an easy choice, depicting the pros and cons of both options. Nor does she present the necessity of the choice itself as desirable, acknowledging that there is a selfishness behind it all, a way in which women are expected to put others first in ways that men are not.

All in all, an enjoyable conclusion to the series, and to my recent rereading project. My only regret is that Taylor never got to the subsequent volumes she had planned, devoted to each of the other sisters. Sadly, she died before she had a chance to write them. Highly recommended, to anyone who has read and enjoyed the other All-of-a-Kind Family books.

[Chrissie]

*************************
1.All-of-a-Kind Family
2.All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown
3.More All-of-a-Kind Family
4.All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown
5.Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family

[Rebecca]

While not as humorous as some of the others, and we missed the added deeper elements of the feasts, it was still a lovely story about making wise decisions and how decisions affect numerous aspects of our life. My two older children enjoyed this one while my youngest didn't find it as interesting as the previous one's.

[Teri · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last book of this series. I have loved this family. These books are a top favorite and I hope to re-read from time to time. This book was primarily about Ella, the oldest daughter. I still enjoyed it , but enjoyed the other four just a little bit more.

[Zaidee · Rating 4 out of 5]

not our favorite one but still a nice ending to the story. older themes versus the stories when all of the girls were younger.

[Kim · Rating 2 out of 5]

Writing was subpar compared to previous ones in the series, but it is always a treat to revisit this family.

[Tovah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read to E - A nice conclusion to the series - it was nice to see Ella growing up.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

My kids are nearly devastated that this series has come to an end. While it answered and tied up many story lines, it left some unanswered. They were not into that. I see that as the beauty of life of not everything comes to an end at the same time and we're all on a journey through life. I found this series of a Jewish Family in New York captivating and a lovely listen with my kids (11-4 yos).

[Cassiejoan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this aloud with my daughter. We have read several of the series together and she's read the rest of them independently. They are really sweet, family-centered books.

[Elinor Loredan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too bad the series ended here before Taylor had a chance to write more books! As a finale, it is not very satisfying to me as it centers upon Ella rather than the whole family. I did enjoy this book, though, and was gripped by the tough decisions Ella has to make. I figured she would end up choosing Jules over a performing career and am glad she did, although I know a lot of people nowadays would find fault with that. But, realistically, no one can have a career that involves touring without negatively affecting a marriage. It simply is not possible. And for Ella, she realized that she valued marriage over the traveling performer lifestyle. Others might choose the career, and that is fine. But one cannot usually have both! The only thing that bothered me was Jules' contemptuous attitude toward Ella's performing. He was a jerk and never apologized. No matter what he felt about Ella's choice of career, he shouldn't have sneered at it.

I did really miss the illustrations and the cozy, domestic feel of the rest of the series. This one felt quite different. As I stated in my review of the fourth book, Taylor is great at making me feel what the characters are feeling. I am always amazed when authors do that.

I read the entire series in a week. I couldn't stop myself from tearing through it but am sad it's over! I will surely return to it in the future.

[Miriam · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't bad, but it just doesn't seem to go with the other books in the series. It was written a little later, and the illustrations are in a different style. It does give an interesting picture of what vaudeville was like, and Ella has to make some important decisions, so I think it is definitely worth reading it in order to finish the series. Also, it might be interesting to discuss the ideas about gender roles in this book and how they have changed.

[Melody · Rating 2 out of 5]

This wasn't as bad as Downtown but it wasn't very good, either. The illustrations were terrible. Seriously bad. The story is not fresh, the plot line is predictable. It's more or less phoned in.

Interesting how the bad books in this series are accompanied by the bad illustrations. Or what look to me like bad illustrations.

[Terralyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm kind of sad to have finished this series.
In this book, there is a lot of interesting talk about the suffrage movement. I loved this series.

[Cecilia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartfelt romance 💝

[Colleen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read all the books in this series as a child, but I don't remember being as disappointed in Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family as I am now. Perhaps I'm just more in tune to good writing and this wasn't good writing. It got off to a bad start in the Foreword where the ending of the story was revealed. Why, oh why do publishers do this? According to dictionary.com, "foreword" means "a short introductory statement in a published work". According to dictionary.com, "introductory" means "preliminary, beginning." Do you see where I'm going with this? The foreword, aka the beginning of the book, is not the place for spoilers! That is simply common sense.
Most of the book concentrated on Ella and her budding career as a singer. I found her chapters jarring. She'd be talking, then quickly switch to internal dialogue with herself (this is made up just so you can get the gist of it): Dialogue: "Jules, I've been offered a spot in the vaudeville company." Internal dialogue: Should I give up my life with Jules for vaudeville? But why should I have to give up my career for Jules? Maybe the vaudeville life isn't right for me? But, if I don't try I'll never know. I don't know what to do! It reminded me of the goofy internal dialogue on old soap operas.
Interspersed with the chapters about Ella were chapters about her siblings. The transitions were poor. Those chapters followed in the spirit of the previous books but did not fit in with a book that was supposed to be about Ella alone.
Unfortunately, this book just wasn't on par with the other All-of-a-Kind Family books. I believe Sydney Taylor died of cancer shortly after this was published. Perhaps that had something to do with the diminished quality of this book. Sadly, she'd intended to write a book about each of the siblings but died before she could get to them. But maybe not so sad--if they'd continued on in this vein, I think my overall impression of the series would have been tainted.
This has nothing to do with Sydney Taylor, but this edition, published by Lizzie Skurnick Books, was terrible. The cover art was ghastly, the interior illustrations were awful, and there seemed to be a spelling error on almost every page. Shameful!

[Gehayi]

Unintentionally the last book in the series--Taylor was planning on writing a book starring each sibling, but unfortunately she died the year that this book was published--Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family focuses on Ella's musical ambitions. She wants to sing and to bring beautiful music into the world...but she also craves marriage and Jules. There are a sprinkling of other stories throughout--Charlotte giving her cousin a horrible haircut, Henny running for student council and coming out to her parents as favoring votes for women, Charlie seeing a poor old man as, just possibly, the Prophet Elijah in disguise--but by and large, this is about Ella.

I confess that I was not the least bit surprised by the outcome. I have never seen a children's book where the heroine had to choose between marriage and a career where she chose the career. Taylor does her level best to show why Ella chooses as she does. Ella spends a year working in vaudeville, not in a career involving classical music; she feels (accurately) that her surroundings and some of the guys she's working with are skeevy; she is naively distressed by how much work goes into performing and how little pleasure she derives from it. Yet at the same time, I remembered Ella arranging, choreographing and scoring plays in previous books, not to mention happily spending hours practicing her singing. I felt that Ella should have known that a great deal of work was involved.

As for Jules, he tries to be fair but he puts some pressure on Ella. He wants to marry and to work his way up the ladder of success--which made me wince, as the stock market crash and the ensuing Great Depression are only nine years away at the book's conclusion. He also makes it clear that he doesn't know how he could be married to a woman who was constantly on the road with a show, because he'd never see her. And Taylor shows that they both have valid concerns.

I was not too dissatisfied with the ending. Ella was clearly happy with her final choice, in which she gave up vaudeville but not music or Jules. And it was in character for her. I'm just weary of the "always choose marriage over a career" trope.

[Audrey Ettinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Re-read of an old favorite that I found at the Philadelphia Free Library bookstore last week when we went to the Barnes Collection. I love this series, but this book is my least favorite of them. I do appreciate that Taylor tried to think about how Ella would move from childhood to adulthood personally and professionally. I would love to know how the family would adjust to a new baby with much older parents (Charlie only seems to be 5 or 6 here so I guess Mama could be as young as 36 if she had Ella at 18, with a 5 year gap between Charlie and Gertie and 8 years spread among the girls...although presumably that was much more common in the 1920s and we know Mama was very fertile!) and I wonder why the author raised that point when she knew she wouldn't extend the story that long.

Anyway, vaudeville details, some discussion of how young folks might have chosen career paths, and a funny Passover seder interlude with Tony the Ice Man getting mistaken for Elijah (by Charlie) made for a fun and very quick read.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I love the All-of-a-Kind Family books as a whole, from a 21st-century perspective this one is best viewed with a very critical historical lens. While I'm sure the theme felt feminist as it was being written (in Ella's choice between career and family, she gives herself the freedom to choose the one that makes her happy), the structural factors influencing that decision are taken as givens (the relationship with Jules only being possible if she gives up working being the glaring one, but also the overt sexism in her workplace, her social conditioning to be a wife & mother, and so much more). Totally makes sense for the time period it was written, but if you have a kid reading this to round out the series, I'd accompany it with some serious unpacking discussions to make it clear how much things have changed for the better since then, and that girls & women today can & should hold their partners, their workplaces, and their families to higher standards of equity.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was my least favorite book in the series by a pretty wide margin. I never Ella to be a particularly interesting character, at least in the context of her family members, and the emphasis on her story was a bit dull. She easily took over half the book, and her struggles were so pure they were uninteresting.

I did enjoy the emphasis on women's suffrage and the more general theme of women's independence, but that was so light that it didn't do too much to lift the book.

One of my favorite aspects that was missing from this book that I loved in previous books was the inclusion and explanation of Jewish traditions and holidays. There was almost none of that in this book, and I found myself really missing it. It was a bit of a sad way to end the series.

I recommend this book to everybody who is already a fan of the series, but to those looking to get into the series, I would start at the beginning or at least choose another book in the series.

[Kristin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is sadly the last book in the All-of-a-Kind Family series. As the title informs us, this book is all about Ella. She is heading out into the world and has many grown up decisions to make.

Sadly this book was my least favorite in the series. I wasn't interested in Ella's burgeoning stage career and her stint doing vaudeville. I also didn't enjoy Jules in this novel. I thought that the storyline with Charlie started out rather dramatic but then kind of peters out. I wanted to follow up with him more after his recovery. I also missed the charming illustrations that were in the other books.

Even though I didn't like this book quite as much as the others; this series is a great comfort read, and I am going to miss the All-of-a-Kind family. The author planned to write a book about each of the siblings but sadly died of cancer after publishing this book.

My Rating: A decent end to a delightful series.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bit iffier on this one as it mostly focused on Ella the oldest daughter's very grown-up concerns, having to decide between a career on the stage and domestic life. I was miffed at her boyfriend's initial more-or-less refusal to support her choice, although he does concede that he'll wait for her. His continued sulking really turned me off him. Still, I guess the fact that it's ultimately her choice makes it okay.

There are other nods to increased female participation in politics and the workforce in the book that I enjoyed (this was set in 1919 just before the Women's Suffrage Amendment passed, and the amendment is warmly anticipated by all the women in the story), though the boys and men uniformly react with horror at first blush. I would have loved to hear more about Hetty as the era's equivalent of class president.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fifth and final book in the All-of-a-Kind series and I’m sad there are no more. Apparently Taylor had planned on writing a book about each of the children but died before she was able. This book is mostly about Ella but the rest of the family is in it too. The character Ella is much like the author Taylor in that they both pursued careers in the arts and believed in women’s rights. In this story, WWI has ended and nineteen-year-old Ella holds the family together while Mama is hospitalized for an extended time. She gets a job to pay for singing lessons and is offered a contact to go on the road with a vaudeville act. Now she has a heart wrenching decision to make, pursue the career she’s dreamed of or marry Jules and raise a family.