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This week I talk about a book that I have read many times. It is the All Of A Kind Family by Sydney Taylor.
It is the story of five girls: Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie. The girls, Mama, and Papa live in NY, where life is hard for Jews. But you would not know it from listening to these girls!
The things that give them pleasure are very simple: a few pennies, a new book for each of them, dressing up, and some firecrackers on the Fourth Of July. I learned a lot from this example. I learned I don’t need big, expensive things (like an iPhone or the newest video game) to be happy. I can have fun with my family doing inexpensive things like playing with our hula hoops, or playing a card game like Apples To Apples.
In the book, Mama and Papa are very hard workers, but even the best parents need some help. So they enlist the girls. They implement a game to make dusting fun, they call on them for help when it is time to make the traditional Jewish foods, (I actually got hungry reading parts of this book. :)) and they have the girls help build the Succah. (To find out what a Succah is, you will have to read the book. Or google it. LOL)
The way the girls worked hard reminds me of my family. I don’t always like working hard, but I know it’s turning me into a better person.
I would recommend this book to any girls – read it aloud to the little ones and let the bigger girls read it themselves. Boys might love it too – I’ll have to get Colter to read it and tell me what he thinks. 🙂
I hope you enjoy listening!
Brett
The All Of A Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Copyright 1951
Illustrated by Helen John
Published by Follett Publishing Company
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are affiliate links. This means that if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe you will enjoy. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions’s 16 CFR, Part 225:”Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Some of my favorite books are the Green Knowe books, written by L.M Boston.
