A House of Tailors
Written by Patricia Reilly Giff
Narrated by Blair Brown
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this audiobook
Endless tiny stitches, button holes, darts. Since she was tiny, she's worked in her family's dressmaking business, where the sewing machine is a cranky member of the family.
When 13-year-old Dina leaves her small town in Germany to join her uncle's family in Brooklyn, she turns her back on sewing. Never again! But looking for a job leads her right back to the sewing machine. Why did she ever leave home? Here she is, still with a needle and thread-and homesick to boot.
She didn't know she could be this homesick, but she didn't know she could be so brave either, as she is standing up to an epidemic or a fire. She didn't know she could grow so close to her new family or to Johann, the young man from the tailor's shop. And she didn't know that sewing would reveal her own wonderful talent-and her future.
In Dina, the beloved writer Patricia Reilly Giff has created one of her most engaging and vital heroines. Readers will enjoy seeing 1870s Brooklyn through Dina's eyes, and share her excitement as she discovers a new world.
From the Hardcover edition.
Patricia Reilly Giff
Patricia Reilly Giff is the author of many beloved books for children, including the Kids of the Polk Street School books and the Polka Dot Private Eye books. Several of her novels for older readers have been chosen as ALA-ALSC Notable Children's Books and ALA-YALSA Best Books for Young Adults. She won the Newbery Honor for Lily's Crossing (a Boston Globe-Horn Book Honor Book) and Pictures of Hollis Woods. She lives in Connecticut.
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Reviews for A House of Tailors
51 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is a small, but mighty young adult book that realistically portrays the belief that immigrants have of America and the streets of gold, compared to the reality of some of the hardships endured when they come to the new land.Dina's family is hard working. When her father dies, Dina uses the skills learned from her mother to help the family. Living in Germany in 1870, she is mistaken for being a spy for the French. Her sister was slated to come to America, but now Dina must use the coveted ticket instead to save her life. Hoping that she does not have to work as hard, and certainly does not have to sew, she learns that she lives in a "house of tailors." Her Uncle hopes for a better life than his can currently give his family living in Brooklyn, NY.Thus, Dina is required to sew, a talent she thought she hated.Yet, when she begins to assimilate into her American family, she risks all in order to be instrumental in helping her new family.This is yet another book written by an excellent author who portrays history in a very realistic manner.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dina, mistaken for a French spy and on the run from the Germany army, is sent to her uncle's in America for safety. It was supposed to be her sister Katharina making the journey. Dina's mother owned a sewing business which engaged her daughters as well. Dina looked forward to escaping sewing but soon found she must do so to earn money for passage back home. In the meantime she slowly adjusts to her new life. I will omit the rest of the story to prevent spoilers. It's a lovely story of immigrant life in in 1871-1872 New York. It's partially based on the author's great-grandmother's life although liberties, expressed in thee afterword, were taken. It's a story which should resonate with middle school girls interested in historical fiction.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Pretty good, but I had a few nitpicky issues with the sewing stuff (who would cut into silk without sewing a mockup first?!) also the book made a reference to ZIPPERS which wouldn't be invented for decades.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Historical Fiction account of a young girl, Dina, who is sent to America to live with her uncle after being accused of being a French spy in the 1870s. She has dreams of getting away from what she loathes, sewing, only to find out that once in America she is expected to do just that to help her family make ends meet. Dina learns about love, loss, family and finding where your place is, even if that means leaving things behind.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dina, thirteen years old, in 1879, flees trouble in her small town in Germany to join her uncle's famiy in America. Her widowed mother makes her living by tailoring with the help of her children who frequently must sew night and day to meet customer deadlines. Dina is thrilled to think that she won't have to sew anymore in America.Things do not work out as Dina hoped. Her uncle does not seem happy to have her in his home. His plan for her is for her to help him with the sewing he has taken on, in addition to his regular job, in order to save for his own little shop. unbearably homesick in the miserable little New York tenement apartment of her uncle's family, Dina schemes to make every penny she can to get back to her mother and siblings in Germany. Cholera in her uncle's family, a fire in their tenament building, and a young man who comes into her life, conspire to keep her in America.