I am reading Homecoming by Cynthia Voigt. So far, the three kids in the story, Dicey, James, Maybeth, and Sammy, have been horribly abandoned by their mother after she realized she could no longer take care of them. Therefore, she decided to leave the three children in the care of their “not even teenager” sister, Dicey. All Dicey knows is that she has an Aunt Cilla living close enough to them that a bus could get them to her in an hour or so. However, that is not the situation at hand, for Dicey has only about twelve dollars to get them to their aunt's. So currently, the kids have been walking for close to a week now to her house, lying to avoid being taken into custody, scrounging for food, and learning how important their family really is.....
I have noticed in this book that Dicey seems to be accustomed to take on the role of the motherly figure for her younger siblings. She just seems to know what to do at all times and understands the ways for a young girl to be resourceful in her surroundings. Another thing that greatly grabbed my attention was how she is immediately aware that if they were to get caught, the four of them could easily be put into the system, facing the possibility that they could go to separate homes, never to be seen again by one another. This seems to raise question to the fact that maybe they could have as a family been subject to the eye of the Child Protective Services previously. Even though personally I have (thankfully) never been in that situation, it seems to remind me of the kids you see on the side of the street in movies that do not have a home, the kids in books such as the Baudelaire children in The Series of Unfortunate Events, or even the kids in the Boxcar Children.
Even though I realize it is fiction when I read this book, I can't help but have that feeling of sympathy for the kids. This sympathy arose when I read the back of this book's cover and seen in a brief description what these kids had to go through at the cost of their mother. It wasn't their fault that she decided that she couldn't handle them alone anymore. It just breaks my heart knowing that some kids actually have to get hit the hardest with the aftermath of their parents faults such as this.
Finally, I wonder how these kids' futures will pan out as the book progresses. Will they ever make it to Aunt Cilla's house? Will James be okay after his minor concussion? Will they ever get to see their mom again? These and many other questions are ones that I can be sure have been asked by anyone who has read this book. Now all I have to do is sit down and read the tale that unfolds when I investigate the questions and problems this author poses in front of me as I move from chapter to chapter.
Total Word Count:
522 words
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