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Rating: 
Summary: Weak and disappointing
Review: 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: 
Summary: A disappointing follow-up to the other books in the series
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Ella is all grown up
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: A disappointing follow-up to the other books in the series
Review: 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.
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