kate dicamillo raymie nightingale series

Mom isn’t acting like herself either, as she tries to deal with Dad’s absence. Her wise swim and lifesaving teacher moves away, and her elderly neighbor dies. Raymie’s father is not the only person to leave her. The woman marches off in frustration each time, leaving the girls to become acquainted as they wait for their guardians. Various circumstances, including Louisiana’s fainting spells and Beverly’s insolence, keep Ida from ever teaching a twirling lesson. The tough girl is sometimes beaten by her mom and is initially cold and sarcastic toward Raymie and Louisiana. She tells the girls she intends to sabotage the contest. Louisiana wants to win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire contest so she and her grandmother can survive.īeverly, the daughter of a baton champion, has no interest in twirling. Louisiana and her grandmother barely have enough money for food, so they frequently steal it. She lives with her tiny derelict grandmother, and the two are always on the run for fear Louisiana will be taken to a children’s home. Louisiana tells the other girls her parents were famous trapeze artists called the Flying Elefantes. Raymie is attending her first lesson with former baton champ Ida Nee when she meets Louisiana Elephante and Beverly Tapinski. Then her father will see her picture in the paper and be so proud he’ll come home.

Raymie believes if she can learn to twirl a baton, she can win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire contest. Ten-year-old Raymie Clark’s father, an insurance agent, has just run off with a dental hygienist.

Kate dicamillo raymie nightingale series