One Crazy Summer
Ratings17
Average rating4.4
15
Ratings17
Average rating4.4
Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.When the girls arrive in Oakland in the summer of 1968, Cecile wants nothing to do with them. She makes them eat Chinese takeout dinners, forbids them to enter her kitchen, and never explains the strange visitors with Afros and black berets who knock on her door. Rather than spend time with them, Cecile sends Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern to a summer camp sponsored by a revolutionary group, the Black Panthers, where the girls get a radical new education.Set during one of the most tumultuous years in recent American history, one crazy summer is the heartbreaking, funny tale of three girls in search of the mother who abandoned them—an unforgettable story told by a distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia.
Featured Series
3 primary booksGaither Sisters is a 3-book series with 3 primary works first released in 2010 with contributions by Rita Williams-Garcia.
Reviews with the most likes.
These sisters go on a summer adventure and discover a whole new way to look at the world. And I did too. This is a good book, but even more it is an important book. This gave me a new way to look at the world. And we aren't told which way is right and which way is wrong. It reinforced to me that this is complicated.
A crazy summer
Delphine and her two younger sisters are off to California to spend a month with their mother. Their mother who they haven't seen in seven years. Their mother is a poet who has renamed herself and she is active with the Black Panthers. It's the sixties and it's a crazy time with a crazy mother the girls really don't know...will they connect?
I love the sixties, and I loved this story about a black family in the sixties during the Black Power movement. It's a wonderfully new point of view for me. It was a delightful story with dynamic and fascinating characters.
OK, like [b:Midwinterblood 10836471 Midwinterblood Marcus Sedgwick https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1319727124s/10836471.jpg 15750616], this is a book I had a lot of misconceptions about? From the cover and title and intended audience, I assumed this was some kind of like fun Judy Moody-style adventure or something? But this book is REAL AS HELL. Like within the first few chapters, the girls' birth mom essentially tells all her kids she should have aborted them. ICE COLD.I loved all three sisters, and I loved how this book makes the Black Power movement really accessible and relevant for tweens?? I think... this might be best read either with help from a parent, or in a classroom setting, because I'm not sure how much historical context a lot of kids would have for this book? White kids especially. But I think it would be a great one for white kids to read, because of the nuanced portrayal of racism and black history and how even if you're well-meaning, you don't necessarily understand someone else's story. (Obviously also a great one for kids of color.)
