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The Tinker's Daughter
Deftly exploring the realm of preteen insecurities, Hayes has created a humorous and touching story about growing up. Twelve-year-old Holly just can't help being ashamed of her mother, a leftover hippie who runs a junk shop. Now she has a new friend--the famous actress Maddy Brown. Holly isn't sure the friendship is genuine. What if Maddy discovers the truth about Holly's mother?
160 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1995
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February 4, 2024
A standard fun read about learning that maybe The Cool Girl isn't all that if she's gonna be mean, and also that maybe you don't have to be embarrassed of your mother all the time, even if she's not like other moms. Kind of wish I had come across this when I was the target age range; as I was reading I assumed it was an 80s story, and was surprised to find later that both Maddy's age and her mom's roughly match up to mine & my mom's, though I certainly can't say my mother resembles Paisley at all.
Speaking of Paisley, she sounds cool as heck and I want to shop at her store. At one point, Holly complains that she's tired of wearing used clothes and wants new ones, underscoring her point well: "No offense, Mom, but I want to go someplace for the first time, and know that it's the first time my sweater's been there too. Can't you understand that?"
But I mean, point to her mom: "We cannot afford an entire new wardrobe. Not with hundreds of perfectly well made, expensive, fashionable clothes hanging on racks downstairs."
I mean, we're talking a true vintage clothing shop here (and many other vintage things because her mom is an antique or perhaps more accurately "junk" dealer, but a lot of it is clothing). Presumably most if not all of it pre-1980, and at one point she offers to loan several girls their pick of flapper dresses, authentically from the 1920s, for the school Halloween dance. Take me to there!!
Which reminds me, two additional plot points that make this book feel even older than it is: much whispering is done about the new girl, whose dad isn't around because he's...dun dun dun...A CRIMINAL! In PRISON. (A white collar crime because he followed bad financial advice and didn't realize it was illegal, but that's not important.) We can't have that sort of riff-raff in our beautiful small town! And worse, that girl's mother wants to make her living by opening a shop that sells...imported goods? From FOREIGNLAND??
At the very least, you'd assume this is a lesson about racism, but no. This town is just so insulated and WASP-y that even other white people aren't allowed to be Slightly Different. (They grudgingly put up with Paisley because she grew up here and HER mom was a respectable, normal non-hippie. "But," the town basically says with their whole chest, "we only have room for ONE weirdo around here. Let's harass these unwelcome convicts outta here, using all the obscure zoning laws at our disposal." But guess it's kind of cool that because Paisley drags Holly to said town meetings, young readers get a glimpse of local politics in action, and the ability of ordinary people to make a difference on a very local level.)
Speaking of Paisley, she sounds cool as heck and I want to shop at her store. At one point, Holly complains that she's tired of wearing used clothes and wants new ones, underscoring her point well: "No offense, Mom, but I want to go someplace for the first time, and know that it's the first time my sweater's been there too. Can't you understand that?"
But I mean, point to her mom: "We cannot afford an entire new wardrobe. Not with hundreds of perfectly well made, expensive, fashionable clothes hanging on racks downstairs."
I mean, we're talking a true vintage clothing shop here (and many other vintage things because her mom is an antique or perhaps more accurately "junk" dealer, but a lot of it is clothing). Presumably most if not all of it pre-1980, and at one point she offers to loan several girls their pick of flapper dresses, authentically from the 1920s, for the school Halloween dance. Take me to there!!
Which reminds me, two additional plot points that make this book feel even older than it is: much whispering is done about the new girl, whose dad isn't around because he's...dun dun dun...A CRIMINAL! In PRISON. (A white collar crime because he followed bad financial advice and didn't realize it was illegal, but that's not important.) We can't have that sort of riff-raff in our beautiful small town! And worse, that girl's mother wants to make her living by opening a shop that sells...imported goods? From FOREIGNLAND??
At the very least, you'd assume this is a lesson about racism, but no. This town is just so insulated and WASP-y that even other white people aren't allowed to be Slightly Different. (They grudgingly put up with Paisley because she grew up here and HER mom was a respectable, normal non-hippie. "But," the town basically says with their whole chest, "we only have room for ONE weirdo around here. Let's harass these unwelcome convicts outta here, using all the obscure zoning laws at our disposal." But guess it's kind of cool that because Paisley drags Holly to said town meetings, young readers get a glimpse of local politics in action, and the ability of ordinary people to make a difference on a very local level.)
Displaying 1 of 1 review