Homecoming and Dicey's Song

Originally posted September 7, 2003

Homecoming and Dicey's Song

Dicey's Song by Cynthia Voigt is the 1983 Newbery Medal winner. I read Homecoming first because Dicey's Song is a sequel to Homecoming.

Dicey's Song is NO QUESTION on of the most wonderful books I've read in this Newbery journey. I just finished it this morning and I absolutely LOVED it!!!!!

I do recommend reading Homecoming first, and then reading Dicey's Song with no delay!

Homecoming is the story of four children, brothers and sisters, who find themselves abandoned in a parking lot enroute to Bridgeport CT. The oldest one is Dicey, age 13. Dicey manages to take charge of their situation. Unwilling to ask for help, for fear of being placed in foster homes or separated, and with out enough money for bus fare, they decide to WALK to Bridgeport. And do. The journey doesn't end there as they find a less than ideal situation at the great aunt's house they walked to. Dicey then takes a chance and travels again with her family to Maryland to find a grandmother they had never met and who is reputed to be crazy. There, in a ramshakle farmhouse near the bay, with their eccentric and often prickly grandmother they find their homecoming.

The book chronicles their journey in some detail, the places, people, relentless problems to solve and close calls. Most of all the story gets us inside of Dicey and all the complexity of her grieving her mother's absence, her sense of responsibility to her younger siblings, the stress of that responsibility, and the determination, hard work, intelligence, and spunk that she brings to her situation.

Dicey's Song continues the story in Maryland. Now the children are situated with their grandmother and this book charts the healing that occurs for everyone, including Gram. The grandmother in spite of her feisty demeanor cares deeply and has some choice feisty wisdom to impart.

Cynthia Voigt's ability to get deeply inside complex characters in complex situations is quite amazing. I'm impressed. There's nothing superficial about this writing! I found this book to be wonderfully uplifting, but in a earthy real sort of way, and I was weeping by the end of it!

Love, Louise