One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

 

One Crazy Summer

Bibliography

Williams-Garcia, Rita.  2010. One Crazy Summer. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publisher. ISBN 9780060760892.

Plot Summary

In the summer of 1968, 7 year old Fern, 9 year old Vonetta, and 11 year old Delphine make the journey from Brooklyn to Oakland, California to spend a month of the summer with their mother, Cecile.  Cecile left them right after Fern was born, and 7 years later she is now known as Sister Nzilla, a poet and member of the Black Panthers.  She makes it clear to her girls that she doesn’t want them there.  She doesn’t cook for them, doesn’t let them in her kitchen, and sends them off to the People’s Center for breakfast and Black Panther’s summer camp every day.  There they meet some kids their age, including the Ankton sisters and Hirohito Woods. Their Sister Mukumbu, Sister Pat, and Brother Kelvin teach them about the philosophies of the Black Panthers.  Delphine decides to take her sisters to San Francisco for the day, and when they come back Cecile and two other Panthers are being arrested at their house.  Hirohito and his mother take care of them, and the day before they are supposed to return home, they attend the rally to get the park renamed after a Panther who was killed by police.  Delphine and her sisters recite one of their mother’s poems, and Fern surprises everyone with her own poem, which publicly called out Brother Kelvin for working with the police.  Cecile opens up to Delphine that night about her life before leaving her girls, and she encourages Delphine to enjoy being a kid while she can.  After a whole month of being with their mother who never acted like a mother, they finally get a hug from her at the airport.

Critical Analysis

This book gives some details into the leaders and history of the Black Panthers, and it paints a picture of what life was like in the late 1960’s for African Americans.  Delphine discusses the contrast of being in San Francisco where shop owners watch her like a hawk with being in Oakland where everyone is like her, and she can let her guard down.

In a way this book is a coming-of-age story, but somewhat in reverse; Fern grows up, no longer needing her “Miss Patty Cake” doll, writes and reads her own poem on stage based on observations and connections she made by herself, and Cecile finally calls her by her name instead of “Little Girl.”  Delphine, on the other hand, starts out very tightly wound after seven years of caring for her sisters, even going as far as planning out and timing how many minutes she and her sister can sit in the bath.  By the end of the book, she is finally able to let go and just be an eleven-year-old riding down the hill on Hirohito’s go-cart.

Review Excerpts

2010 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature Finalist

2011 Scott O’Dell Award Winner

2011 Coretta Scott King Book Awards Author Winner

2011 John Newberry Medal Honor

Horn Book Guide Starred 10/1/2010 “Williams-Garcia writes vividly about that turbulent summer through the intelligent, funny, blunt voice of Delphine, who observes outsiders and her own family with shrewdness and a keen perception.”

School Library Journal Starred 3/1/2010 Teri Markson “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.”

Connections

Readers may also enjoy Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson, ISBN 9780399252518 or the sequels to this book, P.S. Be Eleven ISBN 9780061938641 and Gone Crazy in Alabama 9780062215895, both by Rita Williams-Garcia.