Dancing in Cadillac Light

Rating:
Summary: Dancing In The Cadillac Light by Kimberly Willis Holt
Review: Dancing In The Cadillac Lights was a very well written book. I like the way that Kimberly Willis Holt describes her characters. For example, she gives a very good description of Jaynell. She tells that Jaynell is a tom boy and she is "not a girlish girl." The story is about a family that lives in a small town, Antler, Texas, and everybody in the town always hears everybody's business. Everybody in this family of four are the same, except for there is one oddball and that is Jaynell. One day Jaynell's grandpap becomes sick and has to move in with Jaynell and her family, and over the time that grandpap has to stay with that family, grandpap and Jaynell get a better bond that takes them closer together. So overall Dancing In Cadillac Lights was a good, even though it was short, but you could read it anytime.

Rating:
Summary: Dancing In The Cadillac Light by Kimberly Willis Holt
Review: I can turn my head to the right as we pass a little grey shack on the new blacktop road and see a big green Cadillac sitting in the dirt driveway. Wonder how those folk can afford that, I might wonder as we whiz by. Kimberly Holt has the answers in her book "Dancing in Cadillac Light". The story, read in one sitting, swept me along because I know these people or maybe their "kin". Growing up in small town Louisiana and living in East Texas, I know first hand that Mrs. Holt has nailed this time and place down perfectly. That's what I like so much about all her books. They are about real places, and especially real people.

Rating:
Summary: UGH!
Review: I hated this book. This family has two girls, Racie and Jaynell. Rachie is a girly-girl and Jaynell is a tomboy. It seems like the only person who loves her is her grandpa. Her parents are just plain crazy. Mama repedily whipped Racie with a flyswatter because she ate a sugar cookie and the dad threatens to "tear up" their hides each time they do something he does not like. Once Jaynell said something out of turn and he grabed her shirt collar, nearly strangleing her, and pushed her rougly to her mama and forced her to apologize. Then Jaynell says that she will flench everytime she sees a flyswatter and she gets really scared when mama uses it on Racie. Her parents are just crazy. Then grandpa dies. Dad becomes even angrier and mama just looses it. I understand that sparking fear in a child's eye is a good thing. Children should be afraid of their parents-but this is crazy. Racie just ate one cookie and from that one mistake she recives a thrashing that is talked about in two paragraphs. Jaynell says that she could hear the repeted blows and it just sounded aweful. These people were crazy. This book is crazy.

Rating:
Summary: Quick, Easy, Heartwarming
Review: I met Ms. Holt in ... (basis for her fictional town of Moon). She is like her characters...down-to-earth, witty, and honest. As a twenty-seven year old teacher, I read this novel for three reasons: its setting ... I've read her other novels and loved them, and to find new reading material for recommendation to my students. I was not disappointed. Jaynell and her family are easy to identify with, easy to follow, and easy to love. The story line is not difficult and the messages ring all too true! Pick this one up, you won't stop 'till the end.

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Summary: Ride along with Jaynell
Review: Jaynell Lambert misses her grandmother something awful. So does her grandfather. Grandpap has hardly said a word since his wife died. Finally, Jaynell's parents bring Grandpap to live with them, and Jaynell is forced to share a room with her younger sister Racine. Even though Racine is only eleven months younger, She and Jaynell couldn't be more different. Racine loves to dance and giggle with her friends. Jaynell likes to go with Grandpap and fish and ride in his car. And Jaynell's dad has asked her to keep a extra close eye on Grandpap....he's been mighty strange as of late. This wonderful book by Kimberly Willis Holt explores the social differences in small town life, how we are afraid of that which is different, and how a young girl learns to honor the legacy left by someone she loves.

Rating:
Summary: UGH!
Review: Kimberly Holt and Sharon Creech both write of strong young female protagonists living in rural settings with eccentric and endearing family members. Following Zach Beaver and Walk 2 Moons, when I compare Holt's LA Sky and Cadillac with Creech's Ruby Holler and Chasing Redbird, Holt wins--hands down. She simply has a better mastery of this genre.

Cadillac is just a delightful story; chock full of eccentric characters and humor in a quaint, rural setting in the year that Neil Armstrong walked the moon. Time after time, Jaynell, the protagonist, makes you smile and chuckle with her one line "zingers" that speak her opinions on everything from "white trash" to her coquetish sister, Racine. The humor is perfect for the primary audience of children as well as adults.

The best zinger of all occurs in the second paragraph of page 137. Jaynell's parents have just returned from a getaway weekend of reconciliation and romance at the lakeside trailer of Uncle Floyd. Jaynell tells the reader, "Mama seemed different...even Daddy seemed to have a lift in his walk...Uncle Floyd had been right...there was nothing catching a fine bass wouldn't cure." Children will laugh but adults will find the word play in the last line and howl!

There is much for children to experience and learn in this story. Don't miss sharing it with your students.

Rating:
Summary: Kimberly Willis Holt vs. Sharon Creech
Review: Kimberly Holt and Sharon Creech both write of strong young female protagonists living in rural settings with eccentric and endearing family members. Following Zach Beaver and Walk 2 Moons, when I compare Holt's LA Sky and Cadillac with Creech's Ruby Holler and Chasing Redbird, Holt wins--hands down. She simply has a better mastery of this genre.

Cadillac is just a delightful story; chock full of eccentric characters and humor in a quaint, rural setting in the year that Neil Armstrong walked the moon. Time after time, Jaynell, the protagonist, makes you smile and chuckle with her one line "zingers" that speak her opinions on everything from "white trash" to her coquetish sister, Racine. The humor is perfect for the primary audience of children as well as adults.

The best zinger of all occurs in the second paragraph of page 137. Jaynell's parents have just returned from a getaway weekend of reconciliation and romance at the lakeside trailer of Uncle Floyd. Jaynell tells the reader, "Mama seemed different...even Daddy seemed to have a lift in his walk...Uncle Floyd had been right...there was nothing catching a fine bass wouldn't cure." Children will laugh but adults will find the word play in the last line and howl!

There is much for children to experience and learn in this story. Don't miss sharing it with your students.