Dicey's Song

This Newbery Medal winner, sequel to Homecoming, has all the virtues that informed adults look for in children's books. It is indeed a very well-written, moving, sensitive read --- just the sort of book that greatly rewards the most experienced reader, which is, of course, the very reason why it will be missed by far too many young people. Dicey and her two brothers and a sister are learning to live with their eccentric grandmother and to settle, after a summer of trauma (Homecoming), into a more secure existence both physically and mentally. In Gram's words, to learn when to let go, when to reach out and when to hold on, Dicey's understanding of these phrases, only gradually acquired, becomes her song, painfully and arduously learned.