November 1, 2004
After writing Nory Ryan's Song
and Maggie's Door
, two novels inspired by family history, Giff takes another trip back, this time to 1870 Germany. Here she introduces 13-year-old Dina, a spunky, courageous heroine based on the author's great-grandmother. While war rages between Germany and France, Dina is sent to America to stay with her Uncle Lucas, his wife and baby daughter. Believing that all people in Brooklyn, N.Y., live "in luxury," Dina is bitterly disappointed to find out that her uncle is anything but rich. To make matters worse, he is a tailor by trade like Dina's widowed mother, and he expects Dina to continue doing what she detests most: stitching trousers and dresses for wealthy clients. But Dina's skill with a needle along with her quick-wittedness and strong stubborn streak allow her to save the day for Uncle's family more than once. The author offers a realistic portrayal of hardships typical of the period. Dina survives cramped living conditions, a smallpox epidemic, a devastating fire and recurring pangs of homesickness before finding her niche in Brooklyn. While the author develops the relationship between Dina and her uncle subtly and gradually, readers may wish that the blossoming affection between the heroine and her love interest were equally fleshed out. Still, most will empathize with Dina's sorrows and share her gratification when she eventually finds happiness and a profitable, enjoyable vocation. Ages 9-12.
November 1, 2004
With her older sister poised to leave Germany to live with relatives in America, Dina gloomily ponders her own future in the family sewing business, "bent over a piece of fabric, a needle in my hand, for the rest of my life!" But when the thirteen-year-old is seized by soldiers (the novel opens in 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War) and wrongly accused of spying, the family decides Dina must travel to New York in Katharina's stead. Arriving in Brooklyn, Dina is disappointed to discover that her uncle and his family live in a five-floor walkup, her bedroom is a windowless closet, and the worn carpet beneath the sewing machine is a sign that "this was a house of tailors, no different from my own, except that it was poorer." The distinctive first-person narrative describes Dina's experiences as she grudgingly assists "the Uncle" (as she always refers to him) with his sewing, saves her baby cousin's life during a smallpox epidemic and the whole family from a Christmas-night fire, and slowly adjusts to her new life in the United States. The story is familiar, but it's given depth by characters who change and grow (Dina's frequent clashes with her equally headstrong uncle evolve into mutual respect), a double-edged central dilemma (the thing Dina hates the most -- sewing -- is the talent that may bring her a "wonderful future"), and an awareness of the poignant duality that so often marks the immigrant experience ("We would always have a longing to go back, and a longing to stay").
(Copyright 2004 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
January 1, 2005
Fleeing Germany during the Franco-Prussian War, thirteen-year-old Dina arrives in Brooklyn. In the distinctive first-person narrative, Dina assists her uncle in his sewing business, saves her cousins life during a smallpox epidemic, and slowly adjusts to her new life. The familiar story is given depth by characters who change and grow and by its poignant understanding of the immigrant experience.
(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
October 1, 2004
Gr 5-8 -This novel is rich with believable, endearing characters as well as excitement and emotion. Dina, 13, can't wait to leave Germany and begin her new life in America with Mama's rich brother and his family. She longs to finally escape the drudgery of her mother's sewing shop, even though she is often reminded, "As much as you hate sewing, Dina, that's how much the needle and thread love you." As soon as she arrives at the cramped, five-story walk-up, however, she knows that she has entered a house of tailors, "no different from my own, except that it was poorer." Though she helps Aunt Barbara with the house and baby Maria, Uncle Lucas views her as a burden. She has no choice but to sew for him, her only consolation being the 40 cents he will give her each day toward her passage home. Gradually, Dina grows to love her new family, meets another "greenhorn" with whom she can reminisce and trade new American words, and becomes a promising hat and dressmaker. She also nurses Barbara and Maria through smallpox and carries the child to safety during a devastating fire. Readers get a glimpse into life in Brooklyn in the 1870s, especially the dreaded Health Department inspections during the epidemic. 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."-Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools
Copyright 2004 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 15, 2004
Gr. 4-7. In 1870, 13-year-old Dina is forced to flee Germany after being mistaken for a spy, and she takes her sister's place on a ship to America, where she will live with Uncle, his young wife, Barbara, and baby Marie. After arriving, Dina finds herself in Brooklyn, sleeping in a stifling closet. Worst of all, she must earn her room and board by sewing. Although talented, Dina despises the work, but sewing is part of Uncle's plan to improve their situation, so Dina finds herself either at the machine or doing the endless work of a tenement life. There are many books about immigrants in the U.S; the strengths of this one are its profuse details and its cranky heroine. And a heroine Dina is, sometimes exaggeratedly so, as when she saves both Barbara and Marie from a fire. Yet, Dina is not a stock character; she's a real child, who works hard, literally and figuratively, to find her way. When she realizes that designing dresses is something she loves, readers will cheer her perseverance, and the happy ending seems well deserved.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2004, American Library Association.)