Publisher's summary: "The continuing adventures of five sisters growing up in a Jewish family in New York in the early twentieth century. Ella finds a boyfriend and Henny disagrees with Papa over her curfew; a single uncle finds romance; World War I approaches and the family heads to Rockaway Beach to avoid infection during an outbreak of infantile paralysis [polio]" ( )

This is a lovely collection of episodical stories. They are a charming and homey look into an American Jewish family in 1900's New York. ( )

The All-of-a-Kind Family books were some of my mother's favorites growing up so of course I read them as a child. I recently re-read them and still enjoyed them as an adult. There are some parts of them that are rather problematic from a religious tolerance perspective but in general they stand the test of time and are sweet well written books. ( )

This is an interesting book to learn the history of the Jews on the Lower East Side in the early 20th century. The ideas are very sexist, but it provides for good discussions with grandchildren. I loved this book as a child. ( )

The All-of-a-Kind Family return in this second delightful tale - and yes, despite the effort of some to re-order these by chronology, More All-of-a-Kind Family is the second book! - and their adventures here are more fun, more amusing, more poignant, and more heartwarming than in their first, the eponymous All-of-a-Kind Family! The book opens with the marvelous "Lena the Greena" chapter, which introduces the titular Lena who, in an act of bravery, saves Little Charlie, who has wandered into the street, right into the path of an oncoming carriage. From this dramatic beginning, the narrative moves on, once again chronicling matters large and small in the life of this loving, close-knit Jewish family living on the Lower East Side of New York City during the early years of the twentieth century. Here we see eldest daughter Ella experiencing her very first crush (begun at the library, of course!), we witness fun-loving Henny getting into quite a scrape (for which her friend Fanny pays the price!), and we follow along as youngest daughter Gertie finally learns to tell time. We have the amusement of baby Charlie's chapter, in which he toddles up and down the stairs until he finally gets what he wants: namely, his mother to smile at him. But then we have the heartbreak of the chapters in which Lena becomes ill, and her marriage to Uncle Hyman is called off. The book closes with a momentous change, as the family prepare to move away from the crowded Lower East Side, to the leafy uptown Bronx...

I adore all of the books about the All-of-a-Kind family, but this may be my very favorite. There is a deepening of feeling in More All-of-a-Kind Family that is immensely moving, a sense that the people being depicted are real, walking right out of the 1910s, across the pages of the book, and into my heart. The romantic in me loved the story-line involving Charlie and the Library Lady in the first entry in the series, but the relationship between Uncle Hyman and Lena here is so much more real to me, so much more precious. I get teary EVERY SINGLE TIME I read the exchange between Mama and Lena at the house in Far Rockaway, in which Mama attempts to reason with a hurting and very stubborn Lena. I can still recall the revelation it was to me, reading this for the first time as a young girl, that one could act with the conviction of doing right, of sparing others, but really be motivated by a certain kind of thoughtless self-involvement. I feel proud EVERY SINGLE TIME I read Papa's little speech at the end of the book, in which he tells his girls that America is a truly wonderful country, where everyone has the chance to better themselves. Then I get teary again (EVERY SINGLE TIME) when he maintains that they, the All-of-a-Kind Family, have never been poor, because they have had each other. Although all the books are marvelous, and although I tend to reread the first book most often, this second installment is the absolute best in my opinion - a masterpiece of children's literature! Recommended to everyone who reads, with the caveat that they should read All-of-a-Kind Family first. ( )