Dancing in Cadillac Light

by Kimberly Willis Holt

Book Overview

1968 looks like it'll be a pretty good year for Jaynell Lambert. The town's going to pave the dirt road she lives on, her girly-girl sister, Racine, isn't driving her completely crazy, and Grandpap has just moved in with his new emerald green Cadillac convertible. Jaynell and Grandpap have something special. But why won't Grandpap tell her the reason he visits with the dirt-poor Pickens family on the other side of town? When Jaynell finds out Grandpap's...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0698119703
• ISBN13: 9780698119703
• Release Date: September 2003
• Publisher: Puffin Books
• Length: 167 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.1" x 7.9"
• Age Range: 10 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 5 and higher

Customer Reviews

Jentry's Book Review over Dancing in Cadillac Light .........

Everyone thinks that Jaynell and Racine's Grandpa has gone crazy when they find out that his died, so Grandpa leaves the homeplace and moves in with his daughter which is Jaynell and Racine's mom. Jaynell and her grandpa are really close, but when grandma died she felt like grandpa had been yanked from her world. It was Christmas Break when Grandpa moved in so Jaynell wasn't in school, but both of her parents's had to work. Jaynell's dad told her to keep an eye on Grandpa to make sure he didn't get into any trouble, so Jaynell did. The next morning Jaynell did exactly what her dad told her to do. Grandpa got up and got cleaned up for the day, and then he left the house, so Jaynell followed. She felt bad about being so sneaky around her grandpa since they were so close. She ran up next to him and asked where he was going, but he did not answer. She followed him all the way when they finally arive at the cemetary. As they walked through the cemetary grandpa told stories of how the people had died. Everyday they walked to the cemetary together and looked at grandma's grave. They still didn't have a headstone for it. One morning grandpa got up and instead of walking to the cemetary he started heading to Longview, a town outside of Moon, Texas, when Mr. Bailey picked them up and gave them a ride to Longview. Mr. Bailey was heading there to bid on some old abandoned junk cars. Jaynell did not know where they were going in Longview, but she went along with it. When they approached a car deliership, grandpa said this will be fine, so Mr. Bailey dropped them off. The next thing Jaynell was riding in a cadillac with her grandpa, he woke up that morning and wanted to buy a cadillac. The next couple of weeks grandpa and Jaynell drove through town in the cadillac. Grandpa loved the cadillac. They made rounds everyday stopping at people's houses, including the Pickens. The Pickens were the poorest family in town, but everyday grandpa would stop by to get some cookies and coffee. One day when they arrived he didn't go in, instead Willie and Lily Belle Pickes got in the Cadillac. They asked grandpa if he would give them a ride in the cadillac. So he did, they drove around, and then arrived at the homeplace, and everyone got quite. Nobody had been to the homplace since grandma died. The house was bare, it looked like a ghost house. Lily Belle said she would love to live in a nice house like that. The next day Jaynell over slepted and didn't catch grandpa before he left in the cadillac. She went outside and couldn't help but notice that the Pickens were moving. They drove by in Grandpa's cadillac, he was driving and they were heading to the homplace. Come to find out Grandpa let them move in. That evening grandpa didn't come home, so Jaynell and her dad got in the pickup truck and drove down the road looking for him.......to find out what happened you can read the funny and exciting book, i loved it and i highly suggest that other teenagers read this book to!! Tha

Dancing In The Cadillac Light by Kimberly Willis Holt

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.

Tales from the "Piney Woods"

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.

Quick, Easy, Heartwarming

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.

Ride along with Jaynell

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.