My Amazon and Goodreads review of From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins with Alexandra Dunietz (Rating 4) – A Testament to the Power of Children’s Literature. From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins with Alexandra Dunietz, is a thoroughly researched and insightful biography about children’s book author Sydney Taylor, née Sarah Brenner. Taylor, best known for her All-of-a-Kind Family series, was a pioneer, the first to present a Jewish American family — religious yet assimilated — as the main characters. Like Taylor’s books, which drew on her experiences growing up, Cummins’s biography is also a historical recap of immigrant life on the Lower East Side in the early decades of the twentieth century, of particular interest to me because it portrays the place and time of my parents’ childhoods too. Further, the book reflects on how the evolution of children’s literature, and the publishing world in general, dictate what is acceptable (i.e., marketable) for authors to write. As a fiction writer myself (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I share Taylor’s wariness and resistance to such constraints. Her defense of her work’s authenticity and enduring values, which Cummins forcefully presents, is admirable and inspirational. Perhaps most appealing is the story of the lifelong closeness and entanglement of the five real-life Brenner sisters, and the support of Taylor’s husband, as uncommon in its era as her books. This comprehensive biography is a testament to the power of children’s literature to confirm identity, educate the young about diversity through engaging storytelling, and create new generations of enthusiastic readers.
