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Title: Ella of All-Of-A-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor, Meryl Rosner ISBN: 0-929093-05-4 Publisher: Taylor Productions Pub. Date: March, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 2
Summary: Weak and disappointing
Comment: I first read the All of Kind Family series in grade school, and I loved them. But I had never read Ella, which is the final one. I saw the book lying out at the library the other day, and on impulse, I sat down and read it. I must say, it had none of the magic I remember from the other books. And I don't think it's because I'm an adult now--I have reread other favorite childhood stories and they are still wonderful.
Anyway, what I found most disappointing was Ella's decision to forgo her singing career to get married. I realize that is what most girls did back then, and I guess the book was originally written in the 1950s (not our most enlightened period) but still, couldn't Ella have been a trail blazer? Couldn't she tell Jules that if he wanted to marry her, then he'd have to agree to her career? It would've been so refreshing, such an inspiration for any girl reading it now. Instead, it made me want to throw up. First her mother lost a chance at a singing career, and now Ella.
There's better books for young girls out there. Read the rest of the series, but skip this nonsense.
Rating: 1
Summary: A disappointing follow-up to the other books in the series
Comment: Though this book is fairly good in its own right, the magic of the All of a Kind Family series has waned in this one. This book focuses a lot on Ella, who by this time is a fussy teenager and does not really interact with her younger siblings unless it is to complain about them embarassing her in front of her boyfriend Jules. The family dynamic was what made the other books in the series so delightful, but in this book all we see is Ella struggling to be free of them as she tries to find her independence. However, Ella is not charismatic enough to have the bulk of an entire book devoted to her. Her siblings, who rarely appear in this book, are the saving graces to the slow and weak plot. Here they are the same witty trouble-makers that they'd been in the previous books, but they do not appear enough to make this book as good as the others. If you like the other books in the series, this one is a big disappointment.
Rating: 5
Summary: Ella is all grown up
Comment: This is the fifth book in the series and focuses mostly on Ella. We still get to hear about Gertie and Charlotte's misadventures in babysitting and about Henny's hijinks in school, but the book does focus primarily on Ella. The year in 1919. The first World War is over. Women have had to step into men's roles during the war and now want something more. The Suffrage Movement has begun. Meanwhile, talented Ella is continuing her voice lessons and is soon discovered. Now Ella has a choice to make: Fame or family? Will she become a star or marry Jules? Older girls will probably appreciate this book more than younger girls. The previous books focused on all the girls which gives the reader several characters to relate to. Ella is a young woman now and is facing serious decisions which may bore younger readers. Overall it is a wonderful book and makes you wish all the girls and Charley had a book focusing just on them.
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Title: All-of-a-kind Family by Sydney Taylor, Helen John ISBN: 0440400597 Publisher: Yearling Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1984 List Price(USD): $5.50 |
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Title: Cheaper by the Dozen by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey ISBN: 006008460X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 28 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright ISBN: 0805070605 Publisher: Henry Holt & Company, Inc. Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Belles on Their Toes by Frank B. Gilbreth, Ernestine Gilbreth Carey ISBN: 055325605X Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 February, 1984 List Price(USD): $4.99 |
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Title: The Four-Story Mistake by Elizabeth Enright ISBN: 0140383948 Publisher: Puffin Pub. Date: June, 1997 List Price(USD): $5.99 |
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