Louise Parsons (Children's Literature)
Dina has always sewn, and so has her family. It is the family business, but Dina wants nothing to do with it. She has dreams of being something else, but she does not know what, and she is restless. In an effort to break free from the boredom of sewing, Dina leaves the house and something terrible happens. This one decision changes her life forever. She has to leave her home in Germany and travel to the United States to live with family. Dina finally thinks she will be free of sewing, but discovers this is not to be. In America, life is hard for Dina. She is homesick, doesn’t speak the language, and has to sew for a living. Through Dina, the reader experiences the immigrant life such as cramped living quarters, work opportunities, and discrimination. In America, Dina grows up and learns the meaning of hard work, family, and sacrifice. She also learns to love the gift she has been given--the gift of sewing. 2004, Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, $15.95. Ages 9 to 14.

Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2004 (Vol. 72, No. 19))
With her sure storytelling voice and gentle-hearted touch, Giff spins another tale of immigration, this one her German great-grandmother's story. Dina is a typical teen, mooning over handsome soldiers and fashionable hats, and immigrating to an idealized America. Arriving in Brooklyn to stay with her Uncle and family, reality strikes: Dina is overwhelmed with homesickness and the uncle is impoverished. Worse, he expects her to pay for her keep by sewing all day, a skill that she possesses but despises. Predictably she makes her way, winning over the dour uncle, proving her worth, and making indispensable contributions to her new family. Like the best of Giff's heroines, Dina is winningly flawed, full of childish self-interest, but she grows in her understanding of herself, her skill with a needle, her place in the family, and the recognition that, like all immigrants, she will always have a heart in two places. The plot is swept along by dramatic truths of Brooklyn life in the 1870s: economic struggle, epidemic, and fire, as well as a hint of romance. Giff's fans will be pleased. 2004, Wendy Lamb/Random, 144p, $15.95. Category: Fiction. Ages 9 to 12. © 2004 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.

Hope Morrison (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November 2004 (Vol. 58, No. 3))
Roughly based on the author's own grandmother's immigration story, this historical novel chronicles thirteen-year old Dina Kirk's emigration from Germany to Brooklyn in 1870. Though initially overjoyed at the prospect of a new life away from her family's sewing shop with "Mama's rich older brother" in New York, Dina is surprised and dismayed to find that she is expected to do piecework in the German tenement district where her uncle (who is in fact not rich) lives with his young bride and their baby. This is a fairly typical immigration narrative, punctuated by periods of homesickness, the trials of smallpox and a housefire, and loving letters sent from her family back home. Dina runs the gamut of highs and lows, from determination to return to Germany as quickly as possible to enchantment with the sounds of the English language and the beginnings of a romance with a young German locksmith. Her voice is stubbornly obstinate and her abrasive interactions with her uncle ("we rubbed each other like emery") a bit offputting; rather than coming across as admirable for her spunk, she seems unappreciative and anachronistic in her constant talking back and confrontation. Her relationship with her uncle's wife is endearing, however, and the gradual building up of her place in the new family is well developed. The atmospheric details of the crowded Brooklyn streets paint a visible picture of tenement life in the time period, making this a useful work of fiction to include in immigration units. An afterword, identifying those parts of the story taken from Giff's own lineage, is included. (Reviewed from galleys) Review Code: Ad -- Additional book of acceptable quality for collections needing more material in the area. (c) Copyright 2004, The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois. 2004, Lamb, 144p, $17.99 and $15.95. Grades 4-7.

Horn Book (The Horn Book Guide, Spring 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 cousin’s 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. Category: Intermediate Fiction. 2004, Random/Lamb, 149pp, 15.95, 17.99. Ages 9 to 12. Rating: 2: Superior, well above average.