Williams-Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2011. ISBN: 9780060760908
Plot Summary:
Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are three sisters who travel across the country from New York to California for Summer vacation and to spend time with their estranged mother. The year is 1968,and despite the three sisters' expectations of going to California to enjoy their summer at Disneyland, they are thrown into a summer camp ran by the Black Panther Party. The girls are surrounded by a radical environment where they become educated about their family, history, and the fight for current civil rights.
Critical Analysis:
One Crazy Summer is a historical work of fiction that captivates readers through the detailed depictions of how life was for African-Americans during the 1960's. The novel begins with the introductions of the main characters, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern. The author, Rita Williams-Garcia, describes the girls as three sisters who travel from New York to Oakland, California to visit their estranged mother during the summer of the mid 1960's. Garcia describes every aspect of the characters, setting, plot, and theme through the narration of the oldest sister, Delphine.
The setting takes place in Oakland, California during the midst of the transformation of the West due to the migration of Black Americans from the South during WWII. Garcia alludes to many identifying characteristics attributed to the Black Panther Party and their movement from the description of the People's Center to the description of the fliers and the clothing of this era. Along with descriptions of the era rises the thickening plot of the sisters trying to get to know their estranged mother. Through their continuing efforts, the sisters come to understand the reasoning for their mother's abandonment revealing the underlying theme of the fight for civil rights, the understanding of a name, and the value of family.
Awards Won:
John Newberry Medal (2011), Coretta Scott King Award for Authors (2011), Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction (2011), National Book Award Finalist (2010)
Review Excerpts:
"Regimented, responsible, strong-willed Delphine narrates in an unforgettable voice, but each of the sisters emerges as a distinct, memorable character, whose hard-won, tenuous connections with their mother build to an aching, triumphant conclusion." -Booklist
"The setting and time period are as vividly realized as the characters, and readers will want to know more about Delphine and her sisters after they return to Brooklyn..." -Horn Book
"Williams-Garcia (Jumped) evokes the close-knit bond between three sisters, and the fervor and tumultuousness of the late 1960s, in this period novel featuring an outspoken 11-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. Through lively first-person narrative,readers meet Delphine, whose father sends her and her two younger sisters to Oakland, Calif., to visit their estranged mother, Cecile. When Cecile picks them up at the airport, she is as unconventional as Delphine remembers (“There was something uncommon about Cecile. Eyes glommed onto her. Tall, dark brown woman in man's pants whose face was half hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades. She was like a colored movie star”). Instead of taking her children to Disneyland as they had hoped, Cecile shoos them off to the neighborhood People's Center, run by members of the Black Panthers. Delphine doesn't buy into all of the group's ideas, but she does come to understand her mother a little better over the summer. Delphine's growing awareness of injustice on a personal and universal level is smoothly woven into the story in poetic language that will stimulate and move readers." - Publishers Weekly
"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." - Kirkus Reviews
"The tumultuous summer of 1968 is the setting for this splendid story (Amistad, 2010) by Rita Williams-Garcia. Delphine, almost 12, along with her sisters Vonetta and Fern, fly across the country to visit their mother, Cecile, who long ago abandoned the family to pursue her poetry. The girls ache for hugs and kisses but desperately try not to hope too much. Good thing. When they arrive at her green stucco house in poor, mostly-black Oakland, California, their mother constantly mutters "didn't want you to come." Cecile fobs the sisters off on the local Black Panther community center, and the girls spend their summer days eating cold eggs and learning that the Black Panthers are more about serving their community and protecting the rights of black citizens than shoot-outs with the police. While U.S. politics roil and boil in the background, Delphine seethes over her crazy mother. Their final confrontation is both poignant and satisfying as we come to understand Cecile. Sisi Aisha Johnson infuses each character with a distinct personality and the tone is upbeat and even humorous. She perfectly captures each character's voice, and her delivery is silky smooth and perfectly paced. Seeing the historic summer of '68 through the eyes of sensitive, intuitive Delphine is a treat. Featuring flawless writing and narration, this is storytelling at its finest. Sure to garner numerous awards." - School Library Journal
Connections:
Customers who bought this title also purchased the following books: P.S. Be Eleven, Turtle in Paradise, and Rebels of the Kasbah.
Interactivity:
- Ask children what they do during the Summer when school is out.
- Begin a conversation stemming from inquiring what civil right arguments are currently in the news.
- Ask children what they know about the Black Panther Party.
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