Product Description

World War I has ended, and Ella, the oldest of the five sisters, who dreams of singing and dancing in the theater, is discovered by a Broadway talent scout. It seems that she will have her chance at a theatrical career after all, starting in vaudeville. But her thoughts are also on Jules, just returned from the War, and marriage. Once again a loving family provides the support needed to make the right decision.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #251758 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

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Customer Reviews

Ella is all grown up
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.

A disappointing follow-up to the other books in the series
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.

OK, Just OK
I absolutely loved the All of a Kind Family series but I was disappointed in this one. As much as I liked Ella, I agreed with the reviewer who said she was disappointed in Ella. She was so close to her sisters in the other books but now she finds them a pain, especially Sarah, the one she was closest to. I realize Ella was 19 in this book, but Sarah was 15 so she and Ella should have had a lot more in common. I'm sorry the series ended with this book. I would have liked to see one more book--maybe one that took place 5 or 10 years later when the other children were young adults. I would have liked to have seen how they turned out. I also would have liked to have known about the 7th child. Was it a girl or a boy? It would have been nice to have some closure on this series.

By the way, just thought I'd throw this question out: Which child do you think Sydney Taylor was? Ella would have been too obvious. I thought maybe she was Charlotte since Charlotte was the dreamer and always making up stories, etc. But that might have been too obvious as well. Maybe Henny . . .