Cadillac - Hardcover

Temple, Charles

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0399226540 ISBN 13: 9780399226540

Publisher: Putnam Pub Group, 1995

Synopsis

Granny, poised behind the wheel of her vintage neon-pink Cadillac, terrorizes the other drivers on the road and takes her granddaughter on an adventure that she will never forget.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly:

Temple (On the River Bank; Shanty Boat) again charms readers with his rollicking and vivid rhyming language, but he makes some missteps in treating the subject matter at the heart of this picture book. Granny takes her young granddaughter for a spin in her gigantic, pink-finned Cadillac "With the Naugahyde seats/ And the gold-flecked metal... Boom, shacka-lacka-lacka/Boom, shacka-lack." The outing may be meant to be silly, but Temple fails to elevate the text to a state of goofiness removed from the difficult issues it suggests. This granny clearly has no business on the road; she knocks her own mailbox down from the git-go, then Lockhart's creamy, fuzzy pastels depict Granny putting on lipstick while driving, running red lights and crashing into a parking meter. There are no seatbelts to be seen and the granddaughter prays in the backseat throughout. At story's end, this highway hellion avoids a ticket by kissing a traffic cop, and then takes to the open road again. Worse, the granddaughter is shown at the parked car's wheel emulating her Granny. This type of humor is better left unshared. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal:

Kindergarten-Grade 2?A dippy, color-blind granny takes her granddaughter for a wild ride to town to buy a pair of polka-dotted undershorts for grandpa. En route she presses the pedal to the metal, cuts heedlessly in and out of traffic, runs red lights, parks on the sidewalk, and merrily throws a traffic ticket out the car window. Miraculously, they return home unscathed. The text often strains to rhyme and is barely funny, but the whizzing, swooping, brilliantly colored double-page illustrations bring the whole silly situation into pulsating life, as the pink, tail-finned Cadillac rips along, scattering birds, trucks, and cars in its wake. Granny is a plump, white-haired little woman in shorts who applies lipstick while steering and seems totally unaware of the havoc she wreaks. Reckless driving is simply not a joke, even though the pictures are clever, funny, and exciting.?Patricia Pearl Dole, formerly at First Presbyterian School, Martinsville, VA
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0399226540
• ISBN 13: 9780399226540
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 1
• Illustrator: Lockhart Lynne N.