Abstract

Sydney Taylors series for children, known as the All-of-a-Kind Family books, tells the story of five Jewish sisters and their brother living in New York City in the early twentieth century. These books simultaneously depict positive cultural identification and assimilation away from that identification. Close examination of the first, best-known, book in the series reveals that assimilation occurs as a result of intrinsic and extrinsic pressures on the text. Intrinsically, Taylors narrative strategies subtly focus attention on non-Jewish characters and events. Extrinsically, Taylors editor insisted that Taylors characters become Americans. Editorial changes to the original manuscript of All-of-a-Kind Family reveal Taylors tactics in response to her perceptions of the necessity of making her characters Americans.

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