A House of Tailors

by Patricia Reilly Giff

Book Overview

SEWING NO ONE could hate it more than Dina Kirk.

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...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440238005
• ISBN13: 9780440238003
• Release Date: August 2006
• Publisher: Yearling Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 0.31 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7

Customer Reviews

PCE Student Review

My favorite book is "A House of Tailors" by Patricia Reilly Giff. This book is mainly historical fiction. The theme of this book is never give up on any thing. My favorite character is Dina Kirk. Dina is my favorite character because she works hard, never gives up and is very brave. The author's writing style is the kind that brings you in in the beginning and lets out in the end. The book is very exciting and entertaining.I like this book because it tells you about facts that really happened and it is funny. The story is about a girl (Dina) who works hard to have her Uncle give her the respect she wants and treat her like part of the family. I would think that this book is great for everyone over 7 and feels the same way I do. I give this book 2 thumbs up.

The brave little tailor

Historical fiction is that huge genre of children's books that I am just not as familiar with as I should be. The field tends to be dominated by such big names as Richard Peck and, in this case, Patricia Reilly Giff. As a child I was always far more interested in books of fantasy and magic, and I am afraid that very little has changed since I have grown. But "A House of Tailors" is one of those well-written works of historical fiction that can draw in even a fantasy-preferring twit like myself. Giff brings to beautiful colorful life the world of 1870 Brooklyn, New York. The dirt, the disease, and the small human pleasures of it all. Dina is desperately jealous of her older sister Katharina. While Dina must stay in Germany doing what she hates most, sewing, Katharina is going to America to live with their rich Uncle. At this moment in 1870 Germany is at war with France, an annoyance to Dina who likes to swap patterns with her friend Elise on the French side. But when Dina escapes one morning to do her usual swap and is caught by German soldiers thinking her a spy, her escape can only be brought about one way. She will have to be the one sent to America and not her sister. Dina is embarrassed and distraught but the fact that she won't be sewing anymore is some comfort. Yet when she arrives in America, the streets her uncle takes her down become dirtier and dirtier. Finally they reach the last one, climb all the steps to the top floor, and enter the apartment. That's when Dina sees the sewing machine in the middle of the room and realizes that she has simply exchanged one house of tailors for another. Now she must save her money to return to Germany, but not before growing to love her family, the boy in the men's shop down the street, and this crazy mixed up town called Brooklyn where dreams of the future came sometimes come true. Giff's heroine undergoes a perfectly conceived series of changes and she grows and learns realistically in this new world of America. At first, Dina is really quite awful. When she runs off and does something without thinking you instinctively begin to cringe, knowing full well that some awful comeuppance is about to occur. At the same time, however, she's intelligent and ingenious, not to say heroic. It becomes clear that her true love is hatmaking and not sewing, and the sequences in which she describes the creation of a hat are truly amusing and wonderful. They reminded me at times of the hatmaking in Diana Wynne Jones's, "Howl's Moving Castle". Then there is the storytelling, something that Giff has perfected over the years. This book is an almost perfect series of adventures and misadventures with a steady rising/falling action that retains interest right up until the end. If you want something on the mid-19th century German immigrant experience, I can think of few books that tell their tales half as well as this one. Giff tells us in her Afterword that the Dina featured here is based on he

A Gift

Dina's stitches are small and straight. She has a sense for color and fabric. Dina's gift is sewing but she hates it. She longs to go to America and live with her uncle and his family but when she ends up having to flee to New York from her home in Germany she finds her dream and the reality of life in Brooklyn are far apart. Giff can put the reader into the setting of a story better than any other writer. In her novel, "Nory Ryan's Song," we knew when the blight had overtaken the potato crop because we could "smell" it. In this book we sense the crowded streets, the cooking in the tenements and the soot from the fires of Brooklyn in the 1870s. The crowding, disease and long back breaking hours of labor that were part of the immigrants life are accurately depicted. The joys of the her new land include her first taste of ice cream, a new friend, Johann, and her niece and nephew. Dina longs for her home and family in Germany but finds she cannot imagine leaving her new family and friends. She takes great pride in her talent for hat and dressmaking and ultimately makes a place for herself in her new country. Dina is a wonderful character full of strength and love. Giff wrote this story as a tribute to her great grandmother. Her touching afterward describes which stories from the book which came directly from her own family history. Patricia Riley Giff is one of the most honest writers I have ever read. She is like an accomplished musician, every note of her books rings true and touches the heart

A House of Tailors

As this novel opens, we meet a family of tailors living in Germany. The mother and her 2 daughters work making clothes for others. The daughters, Katharina and Dina, find out that Katharina is being sent to America to live with an uncle. Dina is upset that her sister is going without her, but happy that she will be living out one of her life long dreams. After Dina becomes involved in a serious situation, the family decides it will be best for her to go to America in Katharina's place. Dina is faced with several delimma's after arriving in America. She and her Uncle have trouble getting along. After one argument she decides to save money and go back to Germany. Will she ever make it home?? Then she is faced with another question..Where is home? Giff has really created a masterpiece with "A House of Tailors". When I finished this book, I wanted to know what else happened to the characters. I wanted more! I think Dina is someone all readers will look up to. She copes well when placed in diverse situations. She can teach us all a lesson about ourselves, no matter what our age!

A girl's struggles in a creating new life for herself

Ever since she was little, thirteen-year-old Dina Kirk has worked in her family's tailoring business. Her mother takes pride in working with Dina and her sister Katharina. Her mother's business cards read "Frau Kirk and Daughters - Tailors." Through a strange twist of fate, Dina's dreams of escaping her sewing machine come true. She leaves everything that is familiar in Germany and moves in with her uncle's family in Brooklyn. She is horrified to discover that her uncle is also a tailor, and soon she finds herself sitting in front of a sewing machine again. Now Dina is miserable and homesick too. Dina struggles to fit in with her new family and tries to stand up to her uncle, who is almost as stubborn as she is. Her family soon discovers how strong and brave Dina is in the face of adversity. She helps the family through a health epidemic and does what no one else dares to do when a fire rages at their home. Dina is surprised by the closeness she feels for her new family and her feelings for Johann, a young man from a rival tailor shop. Dina's future is revealed at the end of the novel, and no one is more surprised than Dina. Patricia Reilly Giff has created a spunky and believable heroine with Dina in A HOUSE OF TAILORS. Readers will enjoy her adventures while learning about the challenges that our ancestors faced when coming to a new country. --- Reviewed by Renee Kirchner (renee.kirchner@usa.net)