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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/diceys_song_tillerman.png]]
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* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Maybeth has blonde hair, and when you get past her shyness she's probably the sweetest and kindest of the Tillerman children.
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* ItsAllAboutMe: Eunice Logan. She appears generous to take the children in after they suddenly arrive on her doorstep, but then it becomes clear she's doing it just so everyone will think she did the right thing. Worse, she makes her plans to separate the children crystal clear despite Dicey explicitly telling her that's the ''one'' thing they're trying to avoid! She even says Sammy must be kept in line because his behavior "shames ''her''" rather than for his own welfare. Dicey ultimately makes the right choice by packing up and getting out of there.
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* ItsAllAboutMe: Eunice Logan. She appears generous to take the children in after they suddenly arrive on her doorstep, but then it's telling that in the first conversation she has with the children, she's incapable of talking about anything or anyone other than herself. As they stay with her, it becomes clear she's doing it accepted them just so everyone will think she did the right thing. Worse, she makes her plans to separate the children crystal clear despite Dicey explicitly telling her that's the ''one'' thing they're trying to avoid! She even says Sammy must be kept in line because his behavior "shames ''her''" rather than for his own welfare. Dicey ultimately makes the right choice by packing up and getting out of there.
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* TurnOutLikeHisFather: A variant with Maybeth. Of the four Tillerman siblings, she is the most like their mother, and Dicey and James do on occasion worry that Maybeth might end up just like her -- unable to cope with the world. Luckily, as she gets older, she doesn't seem to be heading down that path.
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* TurnOutLikeHisFather: A variant with Maybeth. Of the four Tillerman siblings, she Maybeth is the most like their mother, and Dicey and James do on occasion worry that Maybeth she might end up just like her Liza -- unable to cope with the world. Luckily, as she gets older, she doesn't seem to be heading down that path.
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* TurnOutLikeHisFather: A variant with Maybeth. Of the four Tillerman siblings, she is the most like their mother, and Dicey and James do on occasion worry that Maybeth might end up just like her -- unable to cope with the world. Luckily, as she gets older, she doesn't seem to be heading down that path.
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* HiddenDepths: Just about every single character in the series, to some degree. One of the central themes, especially in ''Dicey's Song'' is that nobody is exactly who he or she appears to be on the surface.
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* HiddenDepths: Just about every single character in the series, to some degree. One of the central themes, especially in ''Dicey's Song'' Song'', is that nobody is exactly who he or she appears to be on the surface.
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* JerkAss[=/=]AbusiveParents: John Tillerman Sr. in ''The Runner''.
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* Sammy in ''Homecoming'' and ''Dicey's Song.'' Justified because he's six. This doesn't go well either; Dicey observes that when Sammy and Momma interact, they sound like two six-year-olds talking, not a six-year-old and his mom.
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* AbusiveParents: John Tillerman Sr.
* AdultsAreUseless: The Tillerman kids initially believe a variant of this. In their minds, all adults who don't know them well will try to split them up, or at least won't understand what they need. Thus they, especially Dicey, feel they must look out for themselves even after adults take on roles in their lives.
* AdultsAreUseless: The Tillerman kids initially believe a variant of this. In their minds, all adults who don't know them well will try to split them up, or at least won't understand what they need. Thus they, especially Dicey, feel they must look out for themselves even after adults take on roles in their lives.
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* Sammy in ''Homecoming'' and ''Dicey's Song.'' Justified because he's six. This doesn't go well either; Dicey observes that when Sammy and Momma interact, they sound like two six-year-olds talking, not a six-year-old and his mom.
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* PrecociousCrush: In ''Come a Stranger,'' Mina Smiths had one on Tamer Shipp, a young minister visiting her church for a summer.
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* OutOfFocus: Maybeth in ''Seventeen Against the Dealer.'' Somewhat justified in that the main plot concerns Dicey, but at that point we hadn't seen her at all since ''Dicey's Song,'' and she would have gotten considerably older. This trope leaves a lot of unanswered questions about Maybeth, such as how or if she continued to cope with school and if her musical talents blossomed into anything significant.
** It doesn't help that out of the four Tillermans, Maybeth is the only one without a plot focused on her at all.
** It doesn't help that out of the four Tillermans, Maybeth is the only one without a plot focused on her at all.
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* OutOfFocus: Maybeth in ''Seventeen Against the Dealer.'' Somewhat justified in that the main plot concerns Dicey, but at that point we hadn't seen her at all much since ''Dicey's Song,'' and she would have gotten considerably older. (she appears in ''Sons From Afar'', but in a very tiny role. This trope leaves a lot of unanswered questions about Maybeth, such as how or if she continued to cope with school and if her musical talents blossomed into anything significant.
**significant. It doesn't help that out of the four Tillermans, Maybeth is the only one without a plot focused on her at all.
**
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* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: At the end of ''Dicey's Song'', there's mention of Abigail's oldest son John Jr. and the possibility of getting into contact with him in the future. This plot point is never brought up in any subsequent books focusing on the family.
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**It doesn't help that out of the four Tillermans, Maybeth is the only one without a plot focused on her at all.
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* OutOfFocus: Maybeth in ''Seventeen Against the Dealer.'' Somewhat justified in that the main plot concerns Dicey, but at that point we hadn't seen her at all since ''Dicey's Song,'' and she would have gotten considerably older. This trope leaves a lot of unanswered questions about Maybeth, such as how or if she continued to cope with school and if her musical talents blossomed into anything significant.
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**Subverted, then double subverted, with Maybeth's music teacher, Isaac Lingerele. He's obese, so the kids naturally expect him to eat a lot when he comes for dinner, but he just picks at his food. When Sammy points this out, much to his Gram and siblings' chagrin, Isaac explains that eating in front of others makes him nervous, so when he's a guest, he nibbles. Then he goes home and stuffs himself. It's a bit of a TearJerker when you think about it.
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* MamasBoy: Jeff, as a child and an early teenager. It doesn't end well.
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* BrokenPedestal: Jeff suffers this with his mother Melody when she reveals the sweet, sunny, loving woman he pledged his devotion to is a selfish runabout.
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** Jeff Greene, after a fight with his mother that reveals her true, selfish nature. He's so depressed he stops going to school and his father ultimately moves them to Anapolis to get him a fresh start.
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** Melody Boudrault, Jeff's mother, qualifies as this. Despite her constant chatter about wanting to make the world a better place it's clear her motives are selfish, that she just wants to feel like ''she alone'' is making a difference even if it means abandoning her husband and son. She displays a lot of this during Jeff's second visit to Charleston, causing him to snap and her to hurt him so badly he suffers a HeroicBSOD for several chapters.
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* ItsAllAboutMe: Eunice Logan. She appears generous to take the children in after they suddenly arrive on her doorstep, but then it becomes clear she's doing it just so everyone will think she did the right thing. Worse, she makes her plans to separate the children crystal clear despite Dicey explicitly telling her that's the ''one'' thing they're trying to avoid! She even says Sammy must be kept in line because his behavior "shames ''her''" rather than for his own welfare. Dicey ultimately makes the right choice by packing up and getting out of there.
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* BigEater: James.
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* BigEater: James. James, especially in ''Homecoming.''
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* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth, the prettiest of the Tillerman siblings, undeservedly has this reputation. She isn't unintelligent, but her learning difficulties combined with her crippling shyness and reluctance to talk to anyone outside the family means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike. During the childrens' stay with Cousin Eunice, Eunice and her friends also unintentionally build up under this, treating Maybeth like a pretty doll and little more, causing her to withdraw further into herself and resemble more and more the empty-headed doll she's being treated as.
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* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth, the prettiest of the Tillerman siblings, undeservedly has this reputation. She isn't unintelligent, but reputation; her learning difficulties combined with her crippling shyness and reluctance to talk to anyone outside the family means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike. During the childrens' children's stay with Cousin Eunice, Eunice and her friends also unintentionally build up under this, the "brainless beauty" image by treating Maybeth like as little more than a pretty doll and little more, doll, causing her to withdraw further into herself and resemble more and more the empty-headed doll she's being treated as. as.
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* BrokenBird: Abigail Tillerman
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* BrokenBird: Abigail TillermanTillerman.
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* BerserkButton: Sammy does ''not'' like it if his family is insulted. He gets into a lot of fights over this.
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* BerserkButton: Sammy does ''not'' like it if his family is insulted. He gets into a lot of fights over this. Dicey too fought a lot when she was younger, over the same reasons, but when she gets older she's better at controlling herself (she still gets angry, mind, she just doesn't get physical).
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* BerserkButton: Sammy does ''not'' like it if his family is insulted. He gets into a lot of fights over this.
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* CassandraTruth: A variant occurs in ''Dicey's Song'', when one of Dicey's home economics assignments is to plan a meal for a family of four for fifty dollars. Remembering how she had to provide for herself and her siblings during ''Homecoming'', Dicey lists the kind of food they ate that summer: soup, peanut butter, bread, milk, fruit -- and when she still has $30 left, she adds extra treats like half-price dougnuts and chicken wings. Her teacher gives Dicey an F and informs her that "nobody could live for long on meals like this." Dicey angrily considers telling her the entire story, but quickly decides not to bother.
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* CassandraTruth: A variant occurs in ''Dicey's Song'', when one of Dicey's home economics assignments is to plan a meal for a family of four for fifty dollars. Remembering how she had to provide for herself and her siblings during ''Homecoming'', Dicey lists the kind of food they ate that summer: soup, peanut butter, bread, milk, fruit -- and when she still has $30 left, she adds extra treats like half-price dougnuts doughnuts and chicken wings. Her teacher gives Dicey an F and informs her that "nobody could live for long on meals like this." Dicey angrily considers telling her the entire story, but quickly decides not to bother.
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* DefrostingIceQueen: Dicey, in ''Dicey's Song''. The Tillerman simblings never had close friends when growing up, and though Maybeth is starting to come out of her shell, and even James and Sammy begin to make friends in Cripsfield, Dicey is reluctant to let anyone get too close to her. She doesn't respond well to Mina and Jeff's repeated attempts to reach out to her, and doesn't even quite get that Mina wants to be friends until Mina spells it out for her. A huge part of her CharacterDevelopment is learning how to open up and accept other people's friendship.
** This development is mirrored almost exactly in Abigail, who has been the freaky town original for years and closed herself off from everyone, but after she accepts her grandchildren she begins reaching out and becoming less of a loner.
** This development is mirrored almost exactly in Abigail, who has been the freaky town original for years and closed herself off from everyone, but after she accepts her grandchildren she begins reaching out and becoming less of a loner.
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* SimplemindedWisdom: Mille Tydings, Abigail's oldest acquaintance. Slow of mind and slow of speech, with no head for numbers or reading, Abigail sums her up in ''Dicey's Song'' as stupid and incapable of thought, and Dicey isn't impressed with her either -- but as both Dicey and Abigail eventually learn, it turns out that Millie can be very insightful and understands people better than most.
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* Fifteen-year-old James, in ''Sons From Afar,'' is described as looking younger than he really is. This is played up in contrast to twelve-year-old Sammy, who looks older than he is.
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* HeroicBSOD: We don't get to see the moment it happens, or the event that triggers it, but Liza is apparently hit by one at the beginning of ''Homecoming,'' which causes her to abandon her children. [[spoiler:She is later found in a hospital, completely catatonic, and she never recovers.]]
** The Tillerman siblings ''almost'' succumb to this several times during their journey in ''Homecoming''; Dicey at one point (when reaching a river they have no hope of crossing) sits down and just waits for the end -- and James, Maybeth and Sammy gradually let fatigue, hunger, bad weather and awful walks along heavy traffic reduce them to apathetic zombies. Luckily, every time the kids are about to give up and despair completely, something positive happens that gives them strength to carry on.
** The Tillerman siblings ''almost'' succumb to this several times during their journey in ''Homecoming''; Dicey at one point (when reaching a river they have no hope of crossing) sits down and just waits for the end -- and James, Maybeth and Sammy gradually let fatigue, hunger, bad weather and awful walks along heavy traffic reduce them to apathetic zombies. Luckily, every time the kids are about to give up and despair completely, something positive happens that gives them strength to carry on.
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* Fifteen-year-old James, in ''Sons From Afar,'' is described as looking younger than he really is. This is played up in contrast to twelve-year-old Sammy, who looks older than he is.
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* BlackBestFriend: Wilhemina Smiths
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* BlackBestFriend: Wilhemina SmithsSmiths, who is the closest the series has to a GenkiGirl.
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* HiddenDepths: Just about every single character in the series, to some degree.
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* HiddenDepths: Just about every single character in the series, to some degree. One of the central themes, especially in ''Dicey's Song'' is that nobody is exactly who he or she appears to be on the surface.
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* LonersAreFreaks: The Tillermans, at first. It's definitely clearest with Abigail, who's an extremely solitary person and not very highly thought of as a result -- but the rest of the family are also loners who don't really have friends and are viewed as strange. During ''Dicey's Song'' they all gradually open up more and start befriending more people.
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* TheSmartGuy: James is without a doubt the most intelligent of the Tillerman siblings and is always curious and eager to learn more. At times, especially in ''Homecoming,'' he can come across as a KnowNothingKnowItAll, but then he's only ten years old at this point.
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** Sammy, in ''Sons from Afar'' is twelve years old, but looks older thanks to his stocky, athletic build and the fact that he's tall for his age.
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* BigEater: James
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* BigEater: JamesJames.
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* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth, the prettiest of the Tillerman siblings, undeservedly has this reputation. She isn't unintelligent, but her crippling shyness and reluctance to talk to anyone outside the family means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike. Aunt Eunice and her friends also unintentionally build up under this, treating Maybeth like a pretty doll and little more, causing her to withdraw further into herself and appear even more like an empty-headed doll.
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* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth, the prettiest of the Tillerman siblings, undeservedly has this reputation. She isn't unintelligent, but her learning difficulties combined with her crippling shyness and reluctance to talk to anyone outside the family means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike. Aunt During the childrens' stay with Cousin Eunice, Eunice and her friends also unintentionally build up under this, treating Maybeth like a pretty doll and little more, causing her to withdraw further into herself and appear even resemble more like an and more the empty-headed doll. doll she's being treated as.
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* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth undeservedly has this reputation. She is very pretty, but her crippling shyness and reluctance to talk to anyone outside the family means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike.
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* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth Maybeth, the prettiest of the Tillerman siblings, undeservedly has this reputation. She is very pretty, isn't unintelligent, but her crippling shyness and reluctance to talk to anyone outside the family means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike.alike. Aunt Eunice and her friends also unintentionally build up under this, treating Maybeth like a pretty doll and little more, causing her to withdraw further into herself and appear even more like an empty-headed doll.
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* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth undeservedly has this reputation. She is very pretty, but her crippling shyness and reluctance to talk to anyone outside the family means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike.
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''Dicey's Song'' won a Newbery Medal, and ''Homecoming'' was adapted into a MadeForTVMovie starring Anne Bancroft.
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''Dicey's Song'' won a Newbery Medal, and ''Homecoming'' was adapted into a MadeForTVMovie starring Anne Bancroft.Creator/AnneBancroft.
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# ''Come a Stranger'' is about Wilhemina Smiths, Dicey's best friend.
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# ''Come a Stranger'' is about Wilhemina Wilhelmina Smiths, Dicey's best friend.
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A series of YA novels by Cynthia Voigt, mainly focused on a young girl named Dicey as she tries to keep herself and her younger brothers and sister alive, sane and together after their mother abandons them. The series consists of the following books:
# ''Homecoming'', the first installment, details their summer of trials and tribulations before they finally meet their maternal grandmother.
# ''Dicey's Song'', the second book, picks up shortly after and is mostly about the children's adjustment to life in Maryland.
# ''A Solitary Blue'' briefly breaks away from the Tillermans; it's the backstory of Dicey's love interest Jeff.
# ''The Runner'' goes back in time to tell the story of Dicey's [[spoiler:deceased]] Uncle Bullet as a teenager and shed some light on grandmother Abigail's life as a wife and mother.
# ''Come a Stranger'' is about Wilhemina Smiths, Dicey's best friend.
# ''Sons from Afar'' focuses on Dicey's brothers James and Sammy, and their attempts to find their missing biological father.
# ''Seventeen Against the Dealer'' is the final installment, in which the focus returns to Dicey.
''Dicey's Song'' won a Newbery Medal, and ''Homecoming'' was adapted into a MadeForTVMovie starring Anne Bancroft.
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!!This series contains examples of:
* BigEater: James
* BlackBestFriend: Wilhemina Smiths
* BreakTheCutie: ''Liza''. She grew up listening to her parents fight constantly, the guy she loved ended up being an untrustworthy JerkAss who abandoned her and her kids, and all her efforts to keep her head above water did was [[spoiler:drive her into a catatonic state and eventually kill her]].
* BrokenBird: Abigail Tillerman
* CassandraTruth: A variant occurs in ''Dicey's Song'', when one of Dicey's home economics assignments is to plan a meal for a family of four for fifty dollars. Remembering how she had to provide for herself and her siblings during ''Homecoming'', Dicey lists the kind of food they ate that summer: soup, peanut butter, bread, milk, fruit -- and when she still has $30 left, she adds extra treats like half-price dougnuts and chicken wings. Her teacher gives Dicey an F and informs her that "nobody could live for long on meals like this." Dicey angrily considers telling her the entire story, but quickly decides not to bother.
* DeathByNewberyMedal
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: Abigail tries to invoke this after Sammy comes in late from riding his bike, but Dicey tells her it's pointless because the children already know how it feels to go hungry.
* {{Determinator}}: Dicey. She shepherds the other three children (aged 10, 9, and 6) from Pawcatuk, Connecticut to Bridgeport-- about 80 miles-- ''on foot'', finds places to sleep and ways to earn money, to keep her family together. She's only 13.
* DontSplitUsUp: The whole reason the children refused to go to the police after their mother disappeared.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble:
** Choleric: Dicey
** Phlegmatic: James
** Melancholic/Supine: Maybeth
** Sanguine: Sammy
* [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry The Glorious War of Brotherly Rivalry]]: In ''Sons from Afar''. Sammy is the popular jock, James is the insecure intellectual. This serves to create friction between them throughout most of the story. Avoided with Dicey and Maybeth.
* HiddenDepths: Just about every single character in the series, to some degree.
* JerkAss[=/=]AbusiveParents: John Tillerman Sr. in ''The Runner''.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Tamer Shipp in ''The Runner'' goes to high school with Bullet, but is also a husband and a father.
* ParentalAbandonment: First their father up and ditches the family while their mother is pregnant with youngest child Sammy, then years later she runs away herself after a life of hardship drives her to the brink of insanity. Jeff's backstory also includes a MissingMom and a distant father (though his father does get better).
* PlagiarismInFiction: In ''Dicey's Song'', Dicey writes a class essay about her mother, and is accused of this because it's too good; her friendship with Mina begins when Mina defends her.
* POVSequel: ''A Solitary Blue'' and ''Come a Stranger'' depict some of the events of earlier books from Jeff's and Mina's perspectives.
* PromotionToParent: Dicey in ''Homecoming''. She gets so used to taking care of her siblings that it's hard to step back from the role once they move in with their grandmother.
* [[RaisedByGrandparents Raised by Grandmother]]: The Tillerman siblings, post-''Homecoming''.
* ShrinkingViolet: Maybeth, to the point where in ''Homecoming'' she's mistaken for mentally retarded due to her silence.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Isaac Lingerle, Maybeth's piano teacher, is 28 years old, but his obesity and the fact that he's already going bald make him appear much older.
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# ''Homecoming'', the first installment, details their summer of trials and tribulations before they finally meet their maternal grandmother.
# ''Dicey's Song'', the second book, picks up shortly after and is mostly about the children's adjustment to life in Maryland.
# ''A Solitary Blue'' briefly breaks away from the Tillermans; it's the backstory of Dicey's love interest Jeff.
# ''The Runner'' goes back in time to tell the story of Dicey's [[spoiler:deceased]] Uncle Bullet as a teenager and shed some light on grandmother Abigail's life as a wife and mother.
# ''Come a Stranger'' is about Wilhemina Smiths, Dicey's best friend.
# ''Sons from Afar'' focuses on Dicey's brothers James and Sammy, and their attempts to find their missing biological father.
# ''Seventeen Against the Dealer'' is the final installment, in which the focus returns to Dicey.
''Dicey's Song'' won a Newbery Medal, and ''Homecoming'' was adapted into a MadeForTVMovie starring Anne Bancroft.
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!!This series contains examples of:
* BigEater: James
* BlackBestFriend: Wilhemina Smiths
* BreakTheCutie: ''Liza''. She grew up listening to her parents fight constantly, the guy she loved ended up being an untrustworthy JerkAss who abandoned her and her kids, and all her efforts to keep her head above water did was [[spoiler:drive her into a catatonic state and eventually kill her]].
* BrokenBird: Abigail Tillerman
* CassandraTruth: A variant occurs in ''Dicey's Song'', when one of Dicey's home economics assignments is to plan a meal for a family of four for fifty dollars. Remembering how she had to provide for herself and her siblings during ''Homecoming'', Dicey lists the kind of food they ate that summer: soup, peanut butter, bread, milk, fruit -- and when she still has $30 left, she adds extra treats like half-price dougnuts and chicken wings. Her teacher gives Dicey an F and informs her that "nobody could live for long on meals like this." Dicey angrily considers telling her the entire story, but quickly decides not to bother.
* DeathByNewberyMedal
* DeniedFoodAsPunishment: Abigail tries to invoke this after Sammy comes in late from riding his bike, but Dicey tells her it's pointless because the children already know how it feels to go hungry.
* {{Determinator}}: Dicey. She shepherds the other three children (aged 10, 9, and 6) from Pawcatuk, Connecticut to Bridgeport-- about 80 miles-- ''on foot'', finds places to sleep and ways to earn money, to keep her family together. She's only 13.
* DontSplitUsUp: The whole reason the children refused to go to the police after their mother disappeared.
* FourTemperamentEnsemble:
** Choleric: Dicey
** Phlegmatic: James
** Melancholic/Supine: Maybeth
** Sanguine: Sammy
* [[TheGloriousWarOfSisterlyRivalry The Glorious War of Brotherly Rivalry]]: In ''Sons from Afar''. Sammy is the popular jock, James is the insecure intellectual. This serves to create friction between them throughout most of the story. Avoided with Dicey and Maybeth.
* HiddenDepths: Just about every single character in the series, to some degree.
* JerkAss[=/=]AbusiveParents: John Tillerman Sr. in ''The Runner''.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Tamer Shipp in ''The Runner'' goes to high school with Bullet, but is also a husband and a father.
* ParentalAbandonment: First their father up and ditches the family while their mother is pregnant with youngest child Sammy, then years later she runs away herself after a life of hardship drives her to the brink of insanity. Jeff's backstory also includes a MissingMom and a distant father (though his father does get better).
* PlagiarismInFiction: In ''Dicey's Song'', Dicey writes a class essay about her mother, and is accused of this because it's too good; her friendship with Mina begins when Mina defends her.
* POVSequel: ''A Solitary Blue'' and ''Come a Stranger'' depict some of the events of earlier books from Jeff's and Mina's perspectives.
* PromotionToParent: Dicey in ''Homecoming''. She gets so used to taking care of her siblings that it's hard to step back from the role once they move in with their grandmother.
* [[RaisedByGrandparents Raised by Grandmother]]: The Tillerman siblings, post-''Homecoming''.
* ShrinkingViolet: Maybeth, to the point where in ''Homecoming'' she's mistaken for mentally retarded due to her silence.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Isaac Lingerle, Maybeth's piano teacher, is 28 years old, but his obesity and the fact that he's already going bald make him appear much older.
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