A Solitary Blue

I am a self-confessed Cynthia Voigt addict and have been known to re-route new editions before they reach our school library shelves. Here is another fine literary experience in the story of Jeff Greene, alternately deserted and betrayed by his mother, Melody, and finding a way out of his self-imposed emotional isolation in the shape of the Zillerman family. Through them - and Dicey in particular - he comes to the realisation that he can accept that doing the right thing sometimes means hurting the people he cares about. More than this, he finds the courage to come to terms with the range of emotions necessarily felt as a result of committing oneself to others. Although A Solitary Blue is officially a sequel to Dicey's Song, it can also be offered independently of it: insist that top third-years and capable fourths and fifths read it!