I'm Brettchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

I often talk about my love of children's literature and young adult literature.

I'm in three, yes three, children's literature reading groups,

and I read often from this section of the bookstore and library.

I made a list of my 81 favorite works of children's literature,

and of course, included on that list is the wonderful 1951 novel by Sydney Taylor,

all of a kind family.

This is the story of five sisters who live with their parents

in the lower east side of New York City in the early 1900s.

They're called all of a kind because they're all sisters.

The book is a wonderful portrait of Jewish immigrant life.

The girls have all sorts of childhood adventures.

They do household chores.

They prepare for the holidays like Passover and Purim.

Sarah loses a library book.

The two youngest sisters go by candy together.

Now one thing for me, as I read these books now,

is that while I enjoy them just as much as I did as a child,

of course I understand them differently.

Because I bring more to them, I get more out of them.

And as an adult, I'm much more aware of the economic circumstances of this family.

When I read this book as a child, although I never really analyzed it,

...