Title: Homecoming

Author: Cynthia Voight

Pages: 372

What I Thought: This book is the 1st in the Tillerman series by Cynthia Voight.  It’s another young adult novel (like the 1st 2 books I reviewed).  It’s set in the 1980’s, according to Wikipedia, which I never would have figured out were it not for Wikipedia. 

The book follows the 4 Tillerman children, Dicey, James, Maybeth, and Sammy, and their journey to their aunt Cilla’s house in Bridgeport.  They were abandoned by their mother at a mall in Connecticut. 

There are strong themes of belonging and family throughout the book.  Family’s important to the Tillerman children, especially Dicey, as evidenced by the fact that she doesn’t want to split up herself and her siblings, and would do most anything to keep them together.  Their father left when their mother was pregnant with Sammy (who was 6 during the novel), and eventually their mother (Liza) loses her job.  Liza would disappear for hours, not talking to her kids, and like I mentioned before, just abandoning her kids at a mall.  This is strongly linked with belonging, because the family is presumed to be poor, setting them apart from the other kids at their school, resulting in them being bullied, having no friends (in the case of Dicey and James), and getting into fights (Sammy and Dicey).  They don’t really belong anywhere, so they learn to stick together, which makes their relationships with each other that much stronger. 

So they end up at their Aunt Cilla’s house, only to find that she has died, and are taken in by their cousin Eunice, who only does it because it’s the “right” thing to do.  Eunice doesn’t really care for the children, but will sacrifice her goal of becoming a nun in order to take them in.  However, they learn of their grandma in Crisfield, and they end up at her house, with all of the children and their grandmother realizing they care for each other.  Their grandmother ends up taking them in, even though she is resistant to the idea, setting aside her fears to take them in. 

Rating: I give it a 3 out of 5.  While a very enjoyable read, it was just average.  It wasn’t good, but it wasn’t bad either- just an average book.