History Literature / TheTillermanFamilySeries

* BigEater: 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.

* CatchPhrase: "Good-o!" Sammy's standard expression when he likes something.

* 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 much since ''Dicey's Song,'' (she appears in ''Sons From Afar'', but only in a secondary 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. It doesn't help that out of the four Tillermans, Maybeth is the only one without a plot focused on her at all.

* {{Foil}}: Eunice Logan and Abigail Tillerman. Eunice is self-centered and weak-willed, only taking in the kids because she feels like it's her duty but not so secretly resents this and really doesn't seem to care about the children save for Maybeth. Abigail is a strong-willed and stubborn woman who often butts heads with the kids but truly loves them and wants to take them in despite her fears that they'll end up going away forever the way that her children did due to her abusive husband. The children make the right choice in staying with Abigail.

** While certainly not physically abusive, Eunice Logan is a terrible guardian to the children. She doesn't respect them but demands respect in turn, vents her frustrations to thirteen-year-old Dicey as well as give her a huge list of chores to do every day, and downright resents six-year-old Sammy for being stubborn and getting into fights. Only James and Maybeth seemed to be liked since they both make her look good with the former's academic achievements and the latter's physical beauty which ends up affecting their self esteem heavily.

* AmbiguousDisorder: While Maybeth certainly isn't mentally handicapped, she does have clear problems interacting with people outside of her family as well as struggling with her education such as being unable to understand what fractions are while Sammy, who is three years younger, can. Due to her eventually being OutOfFocus, however, these problems aren't properly addressed so it's uncertain just what Maybeth's problem actually is.
* 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).
* BigEater:
** James, especially in ''Homecoming.'' Of the four Tillerman siblings, he's by far the biggest eater, the first one to get hungry and the last one to be full. The trait is toned down for subesquent books, probably because when food is plentiful his appetite is far less of a problem.
** 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.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Eunice Logan, who acts like she cares about the children but is clearly doing it [[AttentionWhore for the lip service everyone else is giving her]] and complains about their behavior constantly despite them being rather well behaved for the most part. It's also revealed that she has a [[SecretlyWealthy substantial savings account]] [[ItsAllAboutMe which she wants to keep for herself rather than help pay for the children's expenses]] (which she complains about). After the children rightfully leave, she writes a rather mean-spirited letter to their grandmother (her aunt) [[NeverMyFault complaining about how ungrateful they were to her]] even though Dicey gave her a letter encouraging her to go for her dream of being a nun.
** Jeff's mother, Melody, acts like a sweet and loving woman to her son but she clearly prides herself and her savior complex over wanting to be a wife and mother. When it's revealed that she's just a selfish runabout who refuses to be responsible, her true colors start showing to turn her into a rather nasty person.
* BrainlessBeauty: Maybeth, the prettiest of the Tillerman siblings, undeservedly has this reputation; her learning difficulties combined with her crippling shyness means that she does poorly in school and is labeled "stupid" by teachers and kids alike. During the children's stay with Cousin Eunice, Eunice and her friends also unintentionally build up under the "brainless beauty" image by treating Maybeth as little more than a pretty doll, causing her to withdraw further into herself and resemble more and more the empty-headed doll she's being treated as.
* BrattyHalfPint: Sammy has strong shades of this in the earlier books with his stubborn nature and short temper leading to many fights but considering how many kids picked on him (either for his home life or because he came after Maybeth, who was considered an idiot due to her shyness), it's almost justified.

* BrokenBird: Abigail Tillerman.

* CoolOldLady: Abigail definitely counts when she starts coming out of her shell, especially when she comes to Sammy's school and shoots marbles with all the second graders.
** Jeff's great-grandmother, Gambo, in her own way is a rather fascinating woman with a lot of knowledge of her family history and immediately becomes fond of Jeff. [[spoiler: She's also more than aware that her granddaughter, Melody, is a selfish gold digging runabout and disinherited her.]]
* DeadGuyJunior: Sammy is named after his deceased uncle Samuel "Bullet" Tillerman.

* DefrostingIceQueen:
** Dicey, in ''Dicey's Song''. The Tillerman siblings 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 Crisfield, 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.

* {{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.

* 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.
* GoldDigger: In ''A Solitary Blue'', Jeff's mother, Melody, makes it abundantly clear that she wants to be the one that inherits all the money from her rich grandmother since she feels she's "owed" this despite the woman having raised her. [[spoiler: In a delightful twist of irony, Gambo ends up making Jeff her heir.]]
* GrowingUpSucks: In ''Dicey's Song'', Dicey starts feeling this hard between not only her siblings starting to be more independent of her but the beginnings of puberty.
* GutFeeling: Maybeth struggles academically to the point where she's labeled an idiot by the meaner outsiders and a BrainlessBeauty by the more forgiving ones -- but she's an almost infallible judge of character who can tell within minutes of meeting someone whether they can be trusted or not. She seems mildly surprised when Dicey points out that most people ''can't.''
* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Maybeth has blonde hair, and when you get past her shyness she's probably the sweetest and kindest of the Tillerman children.
* 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.

* HugeSchoolgirl: Mina Smiths, who [[YoungerThanTheyLook looks much older than she is]] because she's so tall and curvy.
* ItsAllAboutMe:
** Eunice Logan. She appears generous to take the children in after they suddenly arrive on her doorstep, but 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 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.
** 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.
* InnocentlyInsensitive: Eunice Logan seems oblivious to just how badly her comments cut into Dicey when she vents to her about things like Sammy's behavior shaming her and how Liza is an unfit mother. Dicey even notes that rather than feeling better after their conversations, she feels more like crying because the conversations are clearly vents for Eunice rather than any sort of true reassurance for Dicey.

* MamasBoy:
** Jeff, as a child and an early teenager. It doesn't end well.
** 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.
* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Dicey and Jeff. She's the brash, outdoorsy type who would rather be outside working on boats than staying inside while he's a quiet intellectual inclined toward music that keeps house for himself and his father. Both of them bemoan the fact that only girls can do Home Economics (a class Jeff wanted) and only boys can do Mechanical Writing (a class Dicey wanted) for their eighth grade minor.
* NoodleIncident: At the beginning of ''Sons from Afar'' James reveals that he's lost a finger at some point between this story and ''Dicey's Song.'' It is never revealed how this happened, though it's implied to be a recent event.
* OlderThanTheyLook:
** Tamer Shipp in ''The Runner'' goes to high school with Bullet, but is also a husband and a father.
** 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.

* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Sister]]: [[PromotionToParent Dicey]] has [[DisappearedDad good]] [[MissingMom reason]] to take on this role but she has points where she winds up heavily anxious that she's separated from her brothers and sister for even small moments like school. To [[ShrinkingViolet Maybeth]], especially, she tries to speak for and over her to the point that she doesn't realize that her younger sister needs to stand up for herself. She learns in time to let Gram shoulder most of the weight of responsibility and that her siblings are able to start living independent lives but growing up doesn't always mean that they're growing apart.

* ParentalFavoritism: In ''Homecoming'', Liza starts drifting away from the children for the most part but still keeps closest to Sammy despite their interactions devolving into something more like two six-year-olds talking rather than a six-year-old and his mother.

* PrecociousCrush: In ''Come a Stranger,'' Mina Smiths had one on Tamer Shipp, a young minister visiting her church for a summer.
* 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.

* ShrinkingViolet: Maybeth, to the point where in ''Homecoming'' she's mistaken for mentally retarded due to her silence. The problem is that she regards literally everyone that isn't a member of her family as a stranger so she won't open up to them unless they have something that draws her in (particularly music).
* 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.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Liza only appears on the first page of ''Homecoming,'' but her leaving is what drives the entire story. In both ''Dicey's Song'' and ''The Runner'' she never appears on-page but her absence is heavily felt.
* 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.

* TurnOutLikeHisFather: A variant with Maybeth. Of the four Tillerman siblings, Maybeth is the most like their mother, and Dicey and James do on occasion worry that she might end up just like Liza -- unable to cope with the world. Luckily, as she gets older, she doesn't seem to be heading down that path.

* 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.
** 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.
** Mina Smiths, when introduced in ''Dicey's Song'' is a HugeSchoolgirl who's Dicey's age, but looks a lot older thanks to being tall and buxom. Dicey thinks she looks about eighteen, while Mina herself half-jokingly says she could easily be mistaken for being a woman of thirty with kids of her own.

* BitchInSheepsClothing: Eunice Logan, who acts like she cares about the children but is clearly doing it [[AttentionWhore for the lip service everyone else is giving her]] and complains about their behavior constantly despite them being rather well behaved for the most part. It's also revealed that she has a [[SecretlyWealthy substantial savings account]] [[ItsAllAboutMe which she wants to keep for herself rather than help pay for the children's expenses]] (which she complains about). After the children rightfully leave, she writes a rather mean-spirited letter to their grandmother (her aunt) [[NeverMyFault complaining about ungrateful they were to her]] even though Dicey gave her a letter encouraging her to go for her dream of being a nun.

* [[OverprotectiveDad Overprotective Sister]]: [[PromotionToParent Dicey]] has [[DisappearedDad good]] [[MissingMom reason]] to take on this role but she has points where she winds up heavily anxious that she's separated from her brothers and sister for even small moments like school. To [[ShrinkingViolet Maybeth]], especially, she tries to speak for and over her to the point that she doesn't realize that her younger sister needs to stand up for herself.

* MasculineGirlFeminineBoy: Dicey and Jeff. She's the brash, outdoorsy type who would rather be outside working on boats than staying inside while he's a quiet intellectual inclined toward music that keeps house for himself and his father. Both of them bemoan the fact that only girls can do Home Economics (a class Jeff wanted) and only boys can do Mechanical Writing (a class Dicey wanted) when they do their eighth grade "elective."

* ShrinkingViolet: Maybeth, to the point where in ''Homecoming'' she's mistaken for mentally retarded due to her silence.

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Bullet (Samuel) and Liza (Elizabeth) are rarely referred to by their real or full names with Liza's full name only being mentioned in the family Bible in ''Dicey's Song.''

* BlackBestFriend: Wilhemina "Mina" Smiths, who is the closest the series has to a GenkiGirl, becomes this to Dicey in ''Dicey's Song''. Dicey, who isn't used to the idea of being close to anyone outside the family, takes a while to realize that Mina actually wants to be friends; especially since Mina already has lots of friends.

* 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 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.

** Dicey, in ''Dicey's Song''. The Tillerman siblings 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 Crisfield, 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.

* 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.

* Noodle Incident: At the beginning of ''Sons from Afar'' James reveals that he's lost a finger at some point between this story and ''Dicey's Song.'' It is never revealed how this happened, though it's implied to be a recent event.

** 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.

* 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 much since ''Dicey's Song,'' (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. It doesn't help that out of the four Tillermans, Maybeth is the only one without a plot focused on her at all.

** Mina Smiths, when introduced in ''Dicey's Song'' is a HugeSchoolgirl who's only thirteen, but looks a lot older thanks to being tall and buxom. Dicey thinks she looks about eighteen, while Mina herself half-jokingly says she could easily be mistaken for being a woman of thiorty with kids of her own.

# ''Come a Stranger'' is about Wilhelmina Smiths, Dicey's best friend.

** Mina Smiths, when introduced in ''Dicey's Song'' is only thirteen, but is tall, buxom and decribed as looking like she's eighteen.

* 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.

* BlackBestFriend: Wilhemina Smiths, who is the closest the series has to a GenkiGirl.

* DeathByNewberyMedal

* BigEater: James, especially in ''Homecoming.''

* 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.]]

* ItsAllAboutMe: Eunice Logan. She appears generous to take the children in after they suddenly arrive on her doorstep, but 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 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.

* MamasBoy: Jeff, as a child and an early teenager. It doesn't end well.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Tamer Shipp in ''The Runner'' goes to high school with Bullet, but is also a husband and a father.

* 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.