The House of Tailors: Summary and book reviews of The House of Tailors by Patricia Reilly Giff, plus links to an excerpt from The House of Tailors and a biography of Patricia Reilly Giff.
The House of Tailors
by Patricia Reilly Giff
Hardcover: Oct 2004,
176 pages.
Paperback: Aug 2006,
176 pages.
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.
Booklist - Ilene Cooper
Gr. 4-7. There are many books about
immigrants in the U.S; the strengths of this one are its profuse details and
its cranky heroine....Dina is not a stock
character; she's a real child, who works hard, literally and figuratively,
to find her way.
School Library Journal - Barbara Auerbach
Grade 5-8–This novel is rich with believable, endearing characters as well as excitement and emotion....Sprinkled with letters from home, the story captures the universal immigrant dilemma, "we would always have a longing to go back, and a longing to
stay."
Recent Reader Reviews
Rated of 5
by Osi A house of Tailors It is good book and adventurous.
Review (not rated)
by Addie Dean
A House Of Taylors is a book about a girl named Dina who lives with Taylors, her mom and her dear sister Katherina in the early 1870's. her uncle in America sends for Katherina, but Dina is being chased by two soldiers because they think she is... Read More
Patricia
Reilly Giff, author of about
60 books for children, says that
she tries to write books "that
say ordinary people are
special." She says that all of
her books are based in some way
on her personal experiences, or
the experiences of members of
her family, or children she
meets. In an afterword to
The House of Tailors she
explains that the character of
Dina is based on her
great-grandmother, 'a loving,
laughing woman...who was the
heart of our family even long
after her death'.
Her latest book, Water
Street,
was published last week.
Set in Brooklyn, it
continues the story started in
Nory Ryans Song
(2000) and Maggies Door
(2003)....
A moving story of a first-generation Japanese-American girl facing the hardships and discrimination of post WWII America. Winner of the 2005 Newbery Award. Ages 11+.
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Booklist - Ilene Cooper
of 5
by Osi
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