Sydney Taylor facts for kids

Sydney Taylor (born Sarah Brenner) was an American writer. She lived from October 30, 1904, to February 12, 1978. She is famous for her children's books. These books tell stories about a Jewish-American family. The family lived in New York in the early 1900s. Her very first book won a special award for children's literature.

Growing Up in New York

Sydney Taylor was born Sarah Brenner on October 30, 1904. Her parents, Cecilia and Morris Brenner, were Jewish immigrants. They came to the United States from Germany in 1901. They settled in a part of New York City called the Lower East Side.

Sarah was one of five daughters. Her sisters were Ella, Henrietta, Charlotte, and Gertrude. She also had two younger brothers. These five sisters later became characters in her popular books. German was their first language at home. But they spoke English with each other and outside.

In 1916, her family moved to the Bronx. Sarah went to Morris High School (Bronx). During high school, she started asking people to call her Sydney or Sid.

Early Jobs and Hobbies

Sydney left high school after two years. She started working and went to business school at night. In 1923, she joined a group called the Young People's Socialist League. She was interested in meeting new people there. This is where she met her future husband, Ralph Schneider.

As a young adult, Sydney also studied at the Rand School of Social Science. She spent vacations at a place called Tamiment. It was a resort in Pennsylvania.

From 1927 to 1929, Sydney and Ralph joined an acting group. It was called the Lenox Hill Players. Sydney helped with advertising and acted in plays. When that group closed, they joined another theater group. Sydney then studied dance for several years. She learned from a famous dancer named Martha Graham. Sydney even performed in some of Martha Graham's dances. She still worked in an office during the day to earn money.

Sydney spent her summers working at Cejwin Camps. This was a summer camp in Port Jervis, New York. Everyone at the camp knew her as "Aunt Syd." Many of her sisters also worked there. Sydney and her sister Ella created and directed plays for the camp. Sydney worked at Cejwin Camps every summer until just before she passed away.

Becoming a Children's Author

Sydney Taylor's most famous books are about her own childhood. They tell stories about her big Jewish family. These five books are known as the All-of-a-Kind Family series. For many years, these books were the most well-known stories about Jewish children in America.

In 1950, Sydney's husband sent one of her stories to a children's book contest. The company, Wilcox & Follett, liked it! They gave Sydney an award and offered to publish her book. This book was All-of-a-Kind Family. It was one of the first children's books specifically about Jewish children. When it first came out, the marketing didn't use the word "Jewish." But the book was very popular. Child Life magazine even called it one of the ten best children's books of 1951.

Sydney continued to write more stories. She wrote a sequel called More All-of-a-Kind Family. It was published in 1954. Then came All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown in 1958. She also wrote All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown. This book showed some harder parts of life in the Lower East Side. Her editor at the time thought these parts were too sad for children. So, All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown wasn't published until 1972. This happened after her first editor retired.

Sydney also wrote other books not in the series. One was A Papa Like Everyone Else. It was based on stories from a friend. She also wrote The Dog Who Came to Dinner. The final book in her famous series was Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family. It was published in 1978, shortly after Sydney passed away.

Personal Life and Legacy

Sydney married Ralph Schneider in July 1925. They had a small ceremony at city hall. Later, they had a religious wedding for their families. Ralph changed his last name to Taylor sometime after 1930. Their daughter was born on January 25, 1935.

Sydney Taylor passed away from cancer at age 73. After her death, her husband created a special award in her honor. It is called The Sydney Taylor Book Award. This award celebrates excellent books for children and teens that explore the Jewish experience.

Awards and Recognition

Sydney Taylor received several awards for her writing:

• Charles W. Follett Award in children's literature (1951)
• Isaac Siegel Memorial Award for best Jewish juvenile literature in English (1952)
• National Jewish Book Award for All-of-a-Kind Family (1952)
• Boys Club of America Junior Award for Mr. Barney's Beard (1961)
• Sydney Taylor Body-of-Work Award from the Association of Jewish Libraries (1979)

Books by Sydney Taylor

• All-of-a-Kind Family (1951)
• More All-Of-A-Kind Family (1954)
• All-of-a-Kind Family Uptown (1958)
• Mr. Barney's Beard (1961)
• Now That You Are 8 (1963)
• The Dog Who Came to Dinner (1966)
• A Papa Like Everyone Else (1966)
• All-of-a-Kind Family Downtown (1972)
• Ella of All-of-a-Kind Family (1978)
• Danny Loves a Holiday (1980)

In 2004, a book called The All-of-A-Kind-Family Companion was released. This was to celebrate 100 years since Sydney Taylor's birth. Later, in 2014, a publisher started reissuing her books. This means they printed new copies of the All-of-a-Kind Family series.