About This Book

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.

Readers will enjoy seeing 1870s Brooklyn through Dina's eyes, and share her excitement as she discovers a new world.

About the Authors or Illustrators

Patricia Reilly Giff

Patricia Reilly Giff began her life in Brooklyn, New York surrounded by books! As a child Giff would prefer to have her nose in a book imagining the life of each character rather than playing with the other children. Some of her favorite childhood reads included Little Women, The Secret Garden, and the Black Stallion books, the Sue Barton books, and the Nancy Drew series. So it's no surprise that she knew early on that she wanted to be a writer.

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