But, the story goes, her husband secretly submitted the manuscript for the Charles W. Follett Award in 1951, and it won, launching Taylor's career and what would become a five-book series.

[5] Ella, Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertrude are five sisters growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 1912.

The book follows them through a year of their childhood, as they deal with mundane chores, find joy in eating candy in bed and collecting used books from their father's junk shop, recover from scarlet fever, and celebrate Jewish holidays such as Purim and Sukkot as well as the Fourth of July.

[9] The book is considered foundational to the development of American Jewish children's literature,[10] and the Association of Jewish Libraries' annual children's literature award is named the Sydney Taylor Book Award in honor of Taylor's work.

[11] The publisher Lizzie Skurnick, who reissued the All-of-a-Kind sequels, describes Taylor's depiction of American Jewish life as "completely singular.