Apparently, the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voight is quite well known and has been enjoyed by
generations of young (and not so young) girls. I knew none of that, only that the second book in the
series, Dicey’s Song, had won the Newberry Medal and that the
series had been recently re-released by Simon & Schuster’s Atheneum
imprint. So I read this warm and
tender novel with few expectations and was pleasantly surprised.
In the first book of the series, Homecoming, the four Tillerman children are abandoned by their
mother, who is lost in her own misery, so they set off from Rhode Island and
make their way all the way to Maryland, to a grandmother they’d never met. It didn’t matter that I hadn’t read the
first book; the relevant details are woven into this story seamlessly. Twelve-year old Dicey is the oldest of
the four children and has gotten used to being responsible for…well, for
everything. So, though they are
all happy to be living with Gram, it is a big adjustment for Dicey to go back
to being a kid and to share the heavy load of her responsibilities with someone
else.
The novel begins the day before school starts, so all four
children have a lot of new things to adjust to – new school, new classmates,
and new challenges. Things are
difficult at first; each of them has his or her own problems that they must
work together as a family to solve.
Besides all this newness, Dicey is facing the additional changes of
growing up and entering adolescence.
I really loved this gentle, well-written story with
surprising emotional depth for a teen novel. I think this novel will appeal to
older middle-grade readers as well (not to mention adults like me!). Though it seems set slightly in the
past, the issues and challenges that the children face are relevant to today’s
kids. I am looking forward to
reading more about the Tillerman’s.
1 comment:
I always like hearing about your family & what they're reading. This time I went back & read the review of Dicey's Song, an old favorite, & read about the little libraries-great idea. Many places I visit have book exchanges, sort of like it. Thanks for the news!
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