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Ten Cents a Dance

by Christine Fletcher

Comment on this title and you could win free books! Synopses & Reviews Comment on this title and you could win free books! ISBN13: 9781599901640 ISBN10: 1599901641 Condition: Standard Dustjacket: Standard All Product Details Only 1 left in stock at $6.95!

 

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

With her mother ill, its up to fifteen-year-old Ruby Jacinski to support her family. But in the 1940s, the only opportunities open to a Polish-American girl from Chicagos poor Yards is a job in one of the meat packing plants. Through a chance meeting with a local tough, Ruby lands a job as a taxi dancer and soon becomes an expert in the art of “fishing”: working her patrons for meals, cash, clothes, even jewelry. Drawn ever deeper into the world of dance halls, jazz, and the mob, Ruby gradually realizes that the only one who can save her is herself.  A mesmerizing look into a little known world and era.

Review:

"Inspired by the experiences of her great-aunt, Fletcher (Tallulah Falls) imagines two years in the life of a scrappy girl from a working-class community in Chicago during WWII. Just 15 and saddled with the responsibility of supporting her ailing mother and younger sister, Ruby Jacinski quits school to work in a meatpacking factory but is soon dazzled by the prospect of earning big money as a taxi dancer (professional dance partner) — an idea she picks up from her neighborhood crush, mobster wannabe Paulie. Fletcher sustains the narrative with the ongoing tension between Ruby's buttoned-up family persona and her desire for a real romance, the glamour of dressing up and dancing to jazz, and baiting 'fish' (customers) for dinner dates and money. Ruby's ability to skate away from an entanglement with an older, very crass client, a disillusioning relationship with Paulie and a brush with the mob can strain credibility; however, the depiction of Chicago nightlife in the '40s and Ruby's deft observations ('the look on his face, like the music itself had put on a dress and come up to him and said hello') add depth and complexity. Ages 14 — up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

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Product Details

ISBN:

9781599901640

Author:

Fletcher, Christine

Publisher:

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

Subject:

General Juvenile Fiction

Subject:

General

Subject:

World war, 1939-1945

Subject:

Conduct of life

Subject:

Poverty

Subject:

Children s-General

Copyright:

2008

Edition Description:

Trade Cloth

Publication Date:

20080431

Binding:

HARDCOVER

Grade Level:

- Up

Language:

English

Pages:

368

Dimensions:

7.75 x 5.06 in

Age Level:

from 14 up to 19

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Ten Cents a Dance Used Hardcover Christine Fletcher

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$6.95 In Stock

Product details 368 pages Bloomsbury Publishing PLC - 2012-06-05 English 9781599901640 Reviews:

"Publishers Weekly Review" by Publishers Weekly, "Inspired by the experiences of her great-aunt, Fletcher (Tallulah Falls) imagines two years in the life of a scrappy girl from a working-class community in Chicago during WWII. Just 15 and saddled with the responsibility of supporting her ailing mother and younger sister, Ruby Jacinski quits school to work in a meatpacking factory but is soon dazzled by the prospect of earning big money as a taxi dancer (professional dance partner) — an idea she picks up from her neighborhood crush, mobster wannabe Paulie. Fletcher sustains the narrative with the ongoing tension between Ruby's buttoned-up family persona and her desire for a real romance, the glamour of dressing up and dancing to jazz, and baiting 'fish' (customers) for dinner dates and money. Ruby's ability to skate away from an entanglement with an older, very crass client, a disillusioning relationship with Paulie and a brush with the mob can strain credibility; however, the depiction of Chicago nightlife in the '40s and Ruby's deft observations ('the look on his face, like the music itself had put on a dress and come up to him and said hello') add depth and complexity. Ages 14 — up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)