Dancing with Elvis [Hardcover]

Stephenson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 2005

It's 1956, and ever since she and her mother rescued Angel Musseldorf from her abusive parents, Frankilee Baxter has been miserable. In addition to being more pretty, popular, and talented than Frankilee, Angel moves in, steals Frankilee's clothing, and begins dating the boy Frankilee likes. At the same time, Frankilee's community is struggling with the issue of school integration.

What keeps Frankilee going is her fantasy about Elvis Presley rescuing her from life in Clover, Texas. But this restless teenager is a realist and doesn't wait around for things to get worse. She devises a plan to get rid of Angel, begins a local Elvis fan club, and works to promote integration. What Frankilee doesn't bargain for is becoming involved in a burglary, an elaborate kidnapping scheme, and a shooting.

With humor and heart, Dancing with Elvis tells of one young woman's coming of age in the South during a time of change in America's history.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9–Frankilee Baxter's world is turned upside down when she and her mother decide to rescue a girl from an abusive situation. Not only does Angel move in, but she immediately begins to take over the household. However, only 14-year-old Frankilee and the Baxters' housekeeper see the manipulative and demanding ways behind the bright smile. Stephenson has packed this novel with enough action to keep readers from putting it down. The girls compete for the same boy, but Angel wins; both of them take music lessons, but Frankilee is asked not to return. Because the setting is in rural west Texas during the late 1950s, there is the problem of integration and how it affects a community not accustomed to change. The author has included enough period detail to give the book an interesting flair. It is accurate in its portrayal of the people and the times but some readers might not be able to relate to all of it. Still, it's a good coming-of-age story.–Sharon Morrison, Southeastern Oklahoma State University, Durant, OK
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Gr. 9-12. Fifteen-year-old Frankilee Baxter, living in Clover, Texas, thinks she is doing something fine when she and her do-gooder mother rescue Angel Mussledorf from an abusive home. Angel moves in, creating tension between Frankilee's parents, costing them money, and causing plain Frankilee no end of angst and jealousy. These machinations might be plenty for even an experienced novelist, but Stephenson sets this ambitious first novel, which is marked by an accidental killing, against complicated questions of black-white relationships during the early days of school integration. She brilliantly creates a variety of characters, who border on stereotype but burst their boundaries to become boisterously real (except for Angel). Likewise, the situations Stephenson creates, and the ways her characters wiggle in and out of them, are enticingly fresh. One way Frankilee defines herself is by her use of "cuss words," and she uses almost all of them (the n-word also comes up). While the language will be problematic for some, it seems integral to the characters. The story goes on too long, and the surprising ending has elements that are both effective and depressing, but this debut won't easily be forgotten. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 335 pages
• Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 1St Edition edition (August 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802852939
• ISBN-13: 978-0802852939
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,320,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable but a bit over the top......................, December 31, 2006

By 

Susan K. Schoonover "Sue Yingling" (Boulder, CO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dancing with Elvis (Hardcover)

DANCING WITH ELVIS is melodramatic yet entertaining coming of age story set in the Texas Panhandle in the 1950's. Frankilee is a likeable heroine and Angel makes a truly evil villain but the ending is way too over the top and made me lose a little respect for the rest of the book. The book does do a good job of describing what life was like in the 1950's segregated South. It's not strictly a young adult book (this middle aged reader enjoyed it) but seems to have been marketed as such.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars GREAT!!!, March 22, 2006

By 

Dead Kennedys (Oz) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dancing with Elvis (Hardcover)

This was one of the better books I've read on racism and life in the 1950's. The concrete details grounded in this novel really gave authenticity to this book and made me feel like I was experiencing the conniving Angel incident, the racism, and the other events right along with Frankilee. I, too, enjoyed the way the author employed big events of the 1950's into this story. Anybody who enjoys historical novels, as well as those on racism and with a dose of humor involved, would probably enjoy this book. Sometimes the swearing might seem too much for some people (it didn't bother me at all), but it also adds a nice quirk to the character of Frankilee. The novel spans from the year 1956 to 58 and tells the story of teenaged Frankilee after her parents take in the pathetic Angel Musseldorf. From the start, Frankilee gets bad impressions of the girl - everything from Angel's demanding new clothes and whining to naming her rambunctious dog after Frankilee's lover-boy, Elvis are enough to make a character who is truly fun to hate. I had plenty of fun hating Angel throughout this novel. And then Frankilee finds out the truth about the girl.

In short, it's a great read. I finished it off in one night and it wasn't enough. Highly recommended!

3.0 out of 5 stars High school girls, March 8, 2007

By 

T. Friedel "book girl" (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dancing with Elvis (Paperback)

An appropriate story for female teenagers. A good example of very common
issues and emotions that many high school girls deal with. A little bit old fashioned so some older women would enjoy this read to bring back memories from their own childhoods.