One Crazy Summer Book Review by Rita Williams-Garcia

Written by Rita Williams-Garcia

Published by Quill Tree Books in 2011

ISBN:978-0060760908

Plot Summary: Delphine and her younger sisters are going to visit their mother Cecile in California for the summer as she abandoned them several years ago. When they arrive, they find out she lives in a normal house even though they believed she was homeless. Their mother tells them to order takeout and then tells them to stay out of the kitchen. 3 Black Panthers arrive and ask for their mother's help with doing printing. Her mom tells the Black Panthers that they need to take her 3 daughters so she can work so the girls end up at a Black Panther's facility that is like a daycare. They learn about what is means to be a Panther as well as learning what their culture should and shouldn't do. Delphine starts to get along with her mother and Delphine decides to take her sisters out to see the sights around San Francisco. When they get back, the find out their mother has been arrested. At a rally, the girls perform a poem written by their mom only to find out that she had been released. When the time comes to go back home, Cecile and Delphine have a conversation about staying young as long as possible before they hug and go back home. 

Critical Analysis (Including Cultural Markers): The characters in this story really bring out many thought and feelings about this time period in American history and about what it really means to be African American and fighting for the rights that you deserve. Delphine goes from wanting to keep her culture a secret, to understanding and fighting for the rights as an activist. Cecile is very overtly where Delphine gets that fighting spirit from as she works tirelessly for the effort so much so as to even abandon her own children.  The setting of Oakland is a huge part of the narrative of the story as it contributes to the Black Panther movement and causes a lot of the social strife that is evident. The cultural aspect was well thought out as during that time African Americans frequently changed names to try to go back to their roots according to my research after googling why Cecile used a different pen name of Nzila. 

Review: Kirkus Review 

A flight from New York to Oakland, Calif., to spend the summer of 1968 with the mother who abandoned Delphine and her two sisters was the easy part. Once there, the negative things their grandmother had said about their mother, Cecile, seem true: She is uninterested in her daughters and secretive about her work and the mysterious men in black berets who visit. The sisters are sent off to a Black Panther day camp, where Delphine finds herself skeptical of the worldview of the militants while making the best of their situation. Delphine is the pitch-perfect older sister, wise beyond her years, an expert at handling her siblings: “Just like I know how to lift my sisters up, I also knew how to needle them just right.” Each girl has a distinct response to her motherless state, and Williams-Garcia provides details that make each characterization crystal clear. The depiction of the time is well done, and while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page. (Historical fiction. 9-12)

Connection: Students can learn more and research the Black Panther Movement and that time period in our country's history. 

More Books by Rita Williams-Garcia

P.S. Be Eleven ISBN 978-0061938641

Gone Crazy in Alabama ISBN 978-0062215895

Jumped ISBN 978-0060760939

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