The Gold Cadillac - Hardcover

Taylor, Mildred D.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0803703422 ISBN 13: 9780803703421

Publisher: Dial, 1987

Synopsis

A close-knit Black family experiences firsthand the pain of ignorance, suspicion, and prejudice when they drive their new 1950 Cadillac from Toledo to Mississippi

About this title

About the Author

Mildred D. Taylor is the author of nine novels including The Road to Memphis, Let the Circle Be Unbroken, The Land, and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. Her books have won numerous awards, among them a Newbery Medal (for Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry), four Coretta Scott King Awards, and a Boston Globe—Horn Book Award. Her book The Land was awarded the L.A. Times Book Prize and the PEN Award for Children’s Literature. In 2003, Ms. Taylor was named the First Laureate of the NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature.

Mildred Taylor was born in Jackson, Mississippi, and grew up in Toledo, Ohio. After graduating from the University of Toledo, she served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia for two years and then spent the next year traveling throughout the United States, working and recruiting for the Peace Corps. At the University of Colorado’s School of Journalism, she helped created a Black Studies program and taught in the program for two years. Ms. Taylor has worked as a proofreader-editor and as program coordinator for an international house and a community free school. She now devotes her time to her family, writing, and what she terms “the family ranch” in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.

Reviews

Grade 2-3 In this quiet story, `lois explains a child's perspective of her fears when she, her sister Wilma, and their parents drive from Ohio to visit relatives in Mississippi in 1950. When `lois' father buys a new gold Cadillac, his wife refuses to ride in ituntil he declares his intentions to visit his parents in the South. Then the whole family goes, caravan style, for it's ``a mighty dangerous thing, for a black man to drive an expensive car into the rural South.'' `lois and Wilma are disquieted by the increasing appearance of ``white only, colored not allowed'' signs as they drive further south. After white policemen humiliate and arrest their father, they do visit their grandparents, but the trip results in their father giving up the car when they return home, realizing that it was pulling the family apart. Full-page sepia paintings effectively portray the characters, setting, and mood of the story events as Hays ably demonstrates his understanding of the social and emotional environments which existed for blacks during this period. `lois' first-person narrative allows readers to understand the youthful perspective on the dehumanizing intentions of racism. Clear language and logical, dramatic sequencing of story events make this story bittersweet for adult readers but important for the social development of beginning readers. Helen E. Williams, University of Maryland, College Park
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dial
• Publication date: 1987
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0803703422
• ISBN 13: 9780803703421
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 4