Cynthia Voigt

> Tag: Cynthia Voigt

“When I think about geology, it feels like time is so long – which makes my own time so short – I don’t intend to wast a minute of it. The hard thing is knowing what constitutes waste.”

Seventeen Against the Dealer by Cynthia Voigt

March 22, 2023 by ardaigle Leave a Comment

What a sweet and poignant end to a beautiful coming-of-age story for Dicey and the entire Tillerman family! My only complaint is that I wish Voigt had written more because I would love to see more of the Tillermans. In this volume, we are back to where it all began with Dicey. At this point, Dicey has dropped out of college to realize her dream of being a boatmaker. She has a small shop, and a vague plan, and the strongest will of anyone, but […]

“He was wrong, somehow, and he wanted to be all right, but it was almost as if there was some secret nobody would tell him, so he was always going to be stuck outside.”

Sons from Afar (Tillerman Cycle #6) by Cynthia Voigt

February 28, 2023 by ardaigle Leave a Comment

In book six of The Tillerman Cycle, we spend time with James, the Tillerman family’s deepest thinker, and in many respects, its most troubled family member. Sweet Maybeth, though clearly developmentally disabled, has her siblings to look out for her and though academically challenged, is a popular and beloved classmate. Both younger brother Sammy and older sister Dicey are unwilling to bend to social mores and remain fiercely independent despite the pressures of high school. Despite their gruff exteriors and nonchalance, friends seek them out. […]

Early 80s Gothic YA

The Callender Papers by Cynthia Voigt

February 14, 2023 by Elizabeth Leave a Comment

I picked up The Callender Papers after reading a reference to it, and wondering how it would compare with Cynthia Voigt’s other books. I read several of her others (Homecoming, Dicey’s Song and Jackaroo) as a teen, and had kind of a love hate relationship with them. Those books are very much products of their time (the early 1980s) and were very bleak and depressing – think of the avocado green, puke brown and mustard yellow that pervaded the 1970s and you’ll understand the mentality […]

“So,” she heard his voice begin. He had a quiet voice, deep. “How does it feel to be an ex-token black?”

Come a Stranger (Tillerman Cycle #5) by Cynthia Voigt

December 30, 2022 by ardaigle Leave a Comment

I’m enjoying my revisit to The Tillerman Cycle books, which were a favorite when I was a youth/teen. Though categorized as children’s books, they tackle adult themes with care and nuance that gives them a timeless quality. This book is the 5th in the 7 book series. Though the series is centered on the Tillerman family with teenaged Dicey as our protagonist, in this installment we get a deep dive into the life of Dicey’s best friend, Nina. We first met Mina in “Dicey’s Song,” […]

“She was right, it would just be another box. It was going to be just another box for him, too, but he’d figured it out. You didn’t get out of one box without getting into another, and you didn’t get out of one box without getting into another, and you didn’t get out without it costing you. “

The Runner (Tillerman Cycle #4) by Cynthia Voigt

December 28, 2021 by ardaigle Leave a Comment

The fourth in the series, this book follows Dicey’s uncle and Samuel’s namesake Bullet (with the moniker he had given himself) in his final year of high school. At this point in family history, the eldest brother has already gotten out of the house, and Liza (Dicey and sibling’s mother) has also left, leaving Bullet behind to fend for himself. He cares little for school, little for anyone really, aside from Patrice who he works for crabbing and oystering. With the onset of the Vietnam […]

“You know who that bird reminds me of? You.” Her expression changed, and he didn’t know what he’d said wrong. Then he saw that the change was caused by Dicey trying to hold back laughter. “I was thinking how much it was like you.”

A Solitary Blue by Cynthia Voigt

August 28, 2021 by ardaigle Leave a Comment

In One Word: Redemptive Cannonball Read Bingo Square: Old Series So far, Jeff is a boy at school, who plays guitar and sings and has begrudgingly caught Dicey’s eye. This book takes us back in time in Jeff’s story, and we learn how he and his father came to live in Crisfield. It was a really interesting take on the series, to focus on Jeff (who we just met in the second book, and has so far been of periphery interest to Dicey the main […]

narfna on Cannonballing with an excellent but very intense mystery/thriller.Thanks! And yes, this is not a Malin book. It's very very good but I think your parental instincts would give you some trouble.
narfna on Cannonballing with an excellent but very intense mystery/thriller.I still love that book! This one is just as well written but different aims, I think.
narfna on Cannonballing with an excellent but very intense mystery/thriller.He handles so many tough subjects so well.
narfna on How many legs do I have?You're making me want to read it again!
Malin on A Russia I Never KnewThis book has been on my TBR list for a while. It sounds really good.

Search This Site

“When I think about geology, it feels like time is so long – which makes my own time so short – I don’t intend to wast a minute of it. The hard thing is knowing what constitutes waste.”

“He was wrong, somehow, and he wanted to be all right, but it was almost as if there was some secret nobody would tell him, so he was always going to be stuck outside.”

Early 80s Gothic YA

“So,” she heard his voice begin. He had a quiet voice, deep. “How does it feel to be an ex-token black?”

“You know who that bird reminds me of? You.” Her expression changed, and he didn’t know what he’d said wrong. Then he saw that the change was caused by Dicey trying to hold back laughter. “I was thinking how much it was like you.”

Help Our Mission