Customer Reviews

The Gold Cadillac

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"The Gold Cadillac," by Mildred D. Taylor, is one of a series of works of fiction in which the author explores African-American history. Like her other books, "The Gold Cadillac" is told from the perspective of a young person and is suitable for younger readers.

The book's narrator, nicknamed 'lois, lives with her family in Toledo, Ohio, around 1950. Her father's purchase of an extravagant gold Cadillac causes some family friction. But the intense drama comes when the family piles into the car and takes a trip south, into communities poisoned by racial segregation and other manifestations of racism.

Taylor is frank, but not sensationalistic, in her portrayal of racism. And although the book ultimately celebrates the strength of a Black family, the book is not sentimental and does not, in my opinion, trivialize the scars of racism. And although Taylor is certainly a writer in the tradition of children's literature, I also see "The Gold Cadillac" and her other books as being a firm part of a larger African-American literary tradition. Certainly, this book has a good deal in common with such "adult" African-American literature as Gwendolyn Brooks' novel "Maud Martha" or Lorraine Hansberry's play "A Raisin in the Sun." I recommend this book to readers of all ages.

i liked the gold cadillac. I would have like my father to by a car like that. It was scary when they went down south. it was good that the father did not be picked up by the cops. anybody should read this book.

The book I'm recommending is Gold Cadillac by Mildred D Taylor. The Gold Cadillac talks about Wilbert, the father, getting a new car and when he gets a new car he drives it to Mississippi. When the family got there, there was trouble happening but I can't tell you, you have to read this fantastic book to find out.

I really liked this book. It was about how people treated black people because of their skin color. But I think It was bad how they treated them. It was a sad story because the girl's dad bought a brand new cadillac. And their mom refused to ride in it I give this book 4 stars. It is a good book. But it needs more pages. It is to short.

I suggest to get your child all of mildred d taylors collection she was good at catching the hate and rasism that went on in the south and other parts of the united states. these books are very real the smaller readers such as this book is good for your 5-6th graders and the novels are perfect for your 7-8th graders!!

It was a very inspirational book. It kind of made you feel like you were back in the days when there was segragation. i loved it!

This book shows today's youngsters what it was like to be black in the South during the l960s. Some of the characters are very unlikable; some are likable. This book shows what daily life could be like, something many people choose to forget.

"As I saw my dad coming in a Cadillac I felt some butterflies in my stomach. I couldn't believe that Cadillac was ours."
What I liked about this book were the characters. I liked the characters because they really showed their feelings. I also liked the car because it is an o.k. car. What I didn't like about this was the white and black people signs. I also didn't like how the white cop treated the family when he thought they had stolen the car when they went down south. This historical fiction book was written by, Mildred D. Taylor. I really recommend this book to people who are interested in African American history.

I have always been a fan of Mildred Taylor books. I purchase the book for my granddaughter reading assignment. After reading this book with my granddaughter we both were very please with this selection.

Beware the spoilers.

First published by Mildred D. Taylor through the Penguin Group in 1987, "The Gold Cadillac" is one of the greatest- and shortest- books I have ever read. At a mere 43 pages, it is on the borderline of novels and short stories. I consider it a novel, but perhaps 'novella' is more like it. Anyway. I first read this book in elementary school. I remember clearly seeing a book as I scanned over a library shelf one day. "The Gold Cadillac". Being a great lover of cars since the earliest of ages, I could not resist picking the book up and taking a closer look. Soon, I read it. Then I checked it out and read it again. Yet, for some reason, it took me over ten years to finally get my own copy. Now I have one, and having read it again for the first time in years, I regret taking so long to purchase a copy of my own.
The book's namesake is a gold-painted, gold-upholstered 1950 Cadillac Coupe DeVille, purchased suddenly and unexpectedly by the father of a black family living in Toledo, Ohio. The story of the Cadillac's arrival at this family's home is not explained firsthand, but rather is explained piece by piece as the story progresses. We learn that the unnamed father of the family stopped by a Cadillac dealership on his way home one day, trading in the not even year-old Mercury for it. The car's magnificence and grandeur soon makes this family the talk of the neighborhood, and the main character, young Lois, and her sister Wilma are enthralled with it. So are their uncles, aunts, and all the others who stop by to look, or see the car while walking through the neighborhood. But one person is not, someone whose staunch dislike for the gleaming new Cadillac changes things dramatically- the mother of the family. They had been saving up to buy a newer, better house, and the Mercury they'd owned before had been perfectly good. The cost of the new car sets them back on the planned new house considerably, making Lois' mother very unhappy with her husband's spontaneous purchase. She also resents his decision to buy the car without speaking to her first at all. She soon says that since her husband bought it alone, he can ride in the Cadillac alone as well. But when Lois' father decides to drive down to Mississippi to visit relatives, all the talk about the Cadillac, positive and negative, subsides in the face of a much bigger issue. In the segregated South of the 1950's, a new Cadillac with Northern plates and a black family inside will not be met with the admiring looks and enthusiastic compliments it has been so far. Despite all the attempts made to dissuade him from making the trip, Lois' father does so, and her mother decides to accompany Lois, Wilma, her husband and their aunts and uncles on the drive to Mississippi.
The trip goes exactly as expected- Kentucky, Tennessee, and most of all Mississippi are far from welcoming to this family and their new car. Pulled over by a pair of Mississippi state troopers, Lois' father is accused of stealing the car. The troopers refuse to believe that a black man could, through his own honest work, afford to pay for such a car as this Cadillac. Released with a fine for 'speeding', they drive back North and borrow the Chevrolet of a relative to make the rest of the trip. Lois has a conversation with her father, expressing her long-standing confusion over why so many "Whites only" signs are seen in the South, and why a black man behind the wheel of a Cadillac is viewed with suspicion and hate rather than respect and admiration. Lois cannot understand why such simple facts- that her father paid for the car with his own hard-earned money and should have the right to drive it wherever he wants- are willingly ignored by so many in America, especially below the Mason-Dixon Line. Her father answers her questions as best he can, but has no concrete answer, no great revelation or solution. We are shown the utter wrongness, the blind hate, of racism and prejudice, of segregation and racial discrimination of all kinds. Books like this do not make those of us who are terribly proud to be Southern. This centers around one of the most, if not the most,shameful parts of our history. There is something very wrong with a place where a man cannot drive down the street behind the wheel of a car he paid for.

Returning home, the Cadillac is put away in a garage. One day it disappears, and Lois' father returns home on foot. The DeVille has been sold. Another Mercury is soon factory-ordered, and until then the family, united once again, rides around in an old 1930's Ford. The Cadillac, grand as it was, divided the family and caused more trouble than it was worth. Lois vows she will never forget it or the trip to Mississippi, and what they saw and went through along the way.

This is a book largely written for elementary school students, but one I would recommend to anybody interested in a little story about the grandeur of one gold Cadillac and the wrongheadedness of an older, more hateful and prejudiced America. Despite its small size, I consider it to be one of the best books I have ever read.