The one where Sarah loses her library book.
Listen to the episode
Join hosts Merav and Batya as they delve into all things All-of-a-Kind Family. This introductory episode deals with the world of the Lower East Side in 1912, meeting Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte and Gertie as well as Mama, and fan favorite, library lady Cathy Allen for the first time!
Plus this week’s deep dive on the fad for paper cuffs and collars.
Our chapter in summary
Sarah can’t find her library book. She’s loaned it to her friend and it’s gone. Mama encourages the girls to go the library and make things right. The girls meet the new librarian, Miss Allen, who comes up with a payment plan, and reassures Sarah that her library privileges won’t be revoked. Her four other sisters, Ella, Henny, Charlotte and Gertie pull together and agree to help Sarah pay for the book, which costs a whole dollar!
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Catch up on all the latest episodes from the All-of-a-Kind Podcast starting with this full transcript of the episode one.
Check out the index page for season one to get all of your favorite episodes and transcript in one place.
Show Notes:
Sydney Taylor is Sarah Brenner!
It’s true! Middle daughter Sarah from the All-of-a-Kind Family books is none other than the author Sydney Taylor, who changed her name in high school to the more gender ambiguous Sydney. You can read all about her life in From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins with Alexandra Dunietz.
This recently published biography is a huge resource for All-of-a-Kind Family lovers and we will be reading inter-textually using the fictionalized accounts Taylor created for publication and the truths Cummins and Dunietz uncovered for this family biography.
Camp Cejwin
As adults, the Brenner sisters were an indispensable backbone of the administrative and creative staff at their beloved Camp Cejwin. We’ll dive more into the legacy and history of the camp in later episodes.
The New York Public Library and the New York Public School System
In 1912 when All-of-a-Kind Family is set the New York Public Library system is not that old, neighborhood branch libraries only start showing up in 1901. Nonetheless, the girls and Mama take for granted that not only is there a library but that it has an extensive section for children as well as lots of color-printed periodicals for Gertie who isn’t reading yet.
The New York City Public School system is a bit older, established in 1842. There’s some debate about what the oldest public school in NYC is, but check out this blog article.
The Illustrations in All-of-a-Kind Family
Take a look at the wonderful illustrations from the All-of-a-Kind Family by Helen John in the All-of-a-Kind Family Reader’s Guide. There are a huge trove of additional illustrations in the original 1951 Follet edition that didn’t make it into the reprint that most of us read growing up. These margin illustrations are delightful and show the girls and other characters interaction, as well as depicting multiple elements from each chapter.
Peter and Polly In Winter
Sarah’s infamous lost library book can be read here at Project Gutenberg in its entirety. See why Tilly wanted to borrow this book, and maybe not return it!
Batya was right; it is a series! There are books on Gutenberg for Peter and Polly in all the seasons. Does anyone have biographical information about the author Rose Lucia? Drop us a line!
Gertie and the Picture Magazines
At the time of this chapter, Gertie is only 4 and can’t read yet. But, not to be left out of the activities of her sisters, Gertie goes along to the library to look at the pictures, not in books, but in contemporary magazines. Get a sense of what Gertie is looking at in the link above. Browse popular magazine titles from the period here.
What’s a Gibson Girl?
Charles Dana Gibson drew his idealized woman as what came to be called “The Gibson Girl”, we talk about Miss Allen as being styled after a Gibson Girl, with her upswept hair, long skirts and neat white blouse with nipped-in paper cuffs.
Changing your last name from Schneider to Taylor
Many Jewish immigrants changed their last names to blend into a North American setting. Sydney Taylor’s husband Ralph Taylor changed his last name from Schneider to Taylor, keeping the meaning of his last name, but shifting it to an English version of the word from the Yiddish (and German) version. This gave Syndey Taylor, who had already been using the unusual spelling for her first name her unique double internal-Y.
Mama is from Bremen, Germany
Learn more about the culture of Bremen, Germany. And learn more about Jewish life in Bremen at the turn of the 20th century. Cecilia “Cilly” Brenner, Mama in All-of-a-Kind Family grows up in Bremen, when her father chooses booming Bremen as a good place to set up a shop for luxury goods. Cilly meets her future husband Morris Brenner who is Papa in the books, in Bremen after he immigrates there to work in a local factory.
Taking in Sewing and Laundry and Doing Piecemeal Work in the Front Room
Many families in the tenement apartments in the 1910s were making a living by taking in other people’s unwanted garment tasks like laundry and mending, or for those with the skills, embroidery and dress making. You can read an account here at the Tenement Museum website.
Our deep-dive feature today: Paper Cuffs
Ubiquitous and then gone, the paper cuff craze helped people who didn’t have multiple shirts to swap their cuffs, collars and even shirt-fronts. The cuffs go from paper to cellulose and have an entire life cycle. Read all about it here at Disposable America.
Library book stamps
Checking out a library book has gone through quite a few iterations in technology over the years, take a look at this cool history of stamping. Checking out books is still satisfying, but often now involves two devices and an internet connection, instead of a physical book, a library card and a stamp.
Other books we mentioned
We read and re-read the All-of-a-Kind Family books in parallel with many other books, including the Little House on the Prairie books by Laura Ingalls Wilder, the Shoes books, including Ballet Shoes by Noel Streatfeild, and the Cheaper By the Dozen books by Frank Bunker Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey.
I love this deep dive and your thorough show notes are great too! Thanks for exploring one of my favorite book series, and one so significant in the history of Jewish children’s literature.