One Crazy Summer

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Williams-Garcia, Rita. 2010. ONE CRAZY SUMMER. New York, NY: HarperCollins Children’s Books. ISBN 978-0-06-076089-2

AWARD(S) and STARS

• Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, 2011
• John Newbery Medal, Honor Book, 2011
• Coretta Scott King Book Award, 2011
• Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2001
• Booklist Book Review Stars, 2010
• Kirkus Book Review Stars, 2010
• School Library Journal Book Review Stars, 2010

PLOT SUMMARY
During the late 60s, Delphine Clark and her sisters, Fern and Vonetta, fly to spend a month during the summer with their mother, a self-claimed poet, who left them seven years earlier and doesn’t want them now reflected in her comments like “I didn’t send for you.” and “Didn’t want you in the first place.” Having grown up with their father and under the stern but loving grandmother Big Ma, the girls try to understand their mother Cecile Johnson, also known as Nzila, and gain her love. In charge of her sisters from the time they left Brooklyn and all throughout their stay in Oakland, California, Delphine uses her ingenuity and strong will to protect them. She bathes them, feeds them and even comforts them through difficult times. Much of their time is spent at a summer camp sponsored by the Black Panthers staying out of their mother’s hair and learning to be proud of who they are regardless of skin color or who their mother is. Through their courage and respect, they earn their mother’s attention and her form of love.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS

Narrated by Delphine, the oldest of three African-American sisters, One Crazy Summer takes readers through the adventures the three have while in the care of their mother. The characters are realistic, funny and each have a voice of their own depicting typical sibling relationships and rivalry. Rita Williams-Garcia sensitively adds historically significant events that occurred during this tumultuous time in America’s history like the Vietnam War, the jailing of Huey Newton, young Bobby Hutton’s shooting and the underground circulations of the Black Panthers. She  artfully includes small details about the era by adding titles of current TV programs such as, Mighty Mouse, Captain Kangaroo, Hogan’s Heroes, The Mike Douglas Show and by describing the “”white hippies with long, hanging hair.” Throughout the book, readers will appreciate Delphine’s strength and courage and question her mother’s parenting skills or lack thereof.

Readers will be drawn into the book by the beautiful jacket art by Sally Wern Comport as Delphine “reminisces” about her One Crazy Summer daydreaming. Similar to art produced in the 60s, she reflects the setting with the bright hot yellow sun and cars from that time.

REVIEW EXCERPT(S)

• SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL (2010) – “Emotionally challenging and beautifully written, this book immerses readers in a time and place and raises difficult questions of cultural and ethnic identity and personal responsibility. With memorable characters (all three girls have engaging, strong voices) and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading.”
• BOOKLIST(2010) – “Set during a pivotal moment in African American history, this vibrant novel shows the subtle ways that political movements affect personal lives; but just as memorable is the finely drawn, universal story of children reclaiming a reluctant parent’s love.”
• COOPERATIVE CHILDREN'S BOOK CENTER (2011) – “Rita Williams-Garcia’s fresh, funny novel resonates with depth and meaning that comes through the brilliant characterizations, sparkling dialogue, and a stunningly realistic recreation of a time and place in a story that concludes with a surprising, yet wholly satisfying resolution. She’s created a small masterpiece of a middle-grade novel that will have broad child appeal.”

CONNECTIONS

• Kekla Magoon’s The Rock and the River would be a good companion book to One Crazy Summer to compare and contrast the historical context, characters, and themes. Its strong protagonist is a 13-year-old boy also with ties to the Black Panthers. These would be good books to read in correlation to a study on the Civil Rights Movement.
• This book is rich with conversations between the sisters and others making this an excellent book for reader’s theater.
• Invite students to listen to Rita Williams-Garcia as she reads an excerpt of the book at http://www.teachingbooks.net/book_reading.cgi?id=4049&a=1.
• The Vierbo University offers a downloadable unit plan at http://www.viterbo.edu/uploadedFiles/academics/letters/english/UnitPlanOneCrazySummer.pdfwhich includes discussion questions, daily writing prompts, vocabulary exercises, research projects, information on 1968 and more.