(Book cover compliments of Titlewave)
Bibliography
Williams-Garcia, Rita. 2010. One Crazy Summer. New York: Amistad. ISBN 0-06-076088-5
Plot summary
In the summer of 1968, 11-year old Delphine and her two sisters visit their estranged mother in Oakland who coldy sends them off to the Black Panther-run community center where they daily receive free food and a revolutionary education.
Critical Analysis
Mature and wise beyond her years, 11-year old Delphine is used to looking out for her two younger sisters. Having heard their birth mother run down for years by their protective grandmother, Delphine is not surprised by the cold reception they receive from their mother Cecile after flying cross country to Oakland, Caliornia to see her for the first time in years. Conflicts emerge as Cecile, a poet and publisher of Black Panther literature, exhibits a consistent lack of interest in relationship with her daughters, and the girls begin to make new friends and acquire new ideas at the Black Panther-run community center where they get free breakfast and revolutionary “day camp.” Delphine’s blunt, occasionally humorous first person narrative keeps the emotionally charged storyline from becoming too heavy, and the richly developed younger sisters Vonetta and Fern are unforgettable, unique characters vastly different in temperament from the steady, precise Delphine. Williams-Garcia paints a vivid picture of the community unrest in 1968 Oakland following the arrest of Black Panther leader Bobby Huey while not allowing the events to overpower the theme of growing daughters seeking to know their mother. As the story concludes, readers will savor the “Free Huey” rally that ultimately opens the door on a beginning relationship between Cecile and her girls.
Reviews and Awards
“In ONE CRAZY SUMMER, readers see the historical changes through the eyes of Delphine. With humor, honesty, and innocence, Delphine comments on the events unfolding before her in the way only a child can..”—Book Illuminations
“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.”—School Library Journal
2011 Coretta Scott King Award Winner
2011 Newbery Honor Book
2011 Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction
2010 National Book Award Finalist
Junior Library Guild Selection
Texas Library Association Best Book for 2010
Starred reviews in Booklist, Horn Book, and School Library Journal. Positive reviews in Wilson’s and BookLinks.
Connections
- Have students read other stories from the point of view of children/young adults during the 1960s Civil Rights movement. A few titles might include:
Spite fences (Trudy Krisher)
The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963 (Christopher Paul Curtis)
For older readers (Black Panthers in Chicago):
The Rock and the River (Kekla Magoon)
Non-fiction titles:
Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories (Levine)
Claudette Colvin: Twice Toward Justice (
Marching for Freedom: Walk Together Children and Don't You Grow Weary (Elizabeth Partridge)
- Have students locate and watch video clips and photo galleries on http://www.history.com from the “Free Huey” Oakland rally, Selma to Montgomery march, and other historic Civil Rights movement events. Have students research further facts from the points of view of eyewitnesses in Freedom's Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories (Levine) and Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of the Civil Rights Movement ISBN 0-553-35232-6. Review “point of view” and have students creatively write about their feelings and experience on one event from the point of view of a child participant.
- For older students: Collaborate with the social studies department in a research study of activist organizations. Begin with defining the parameters of an activist group and conduct research on the Black Panthers. Have students then find modern examples of non-violent and violent activist organizations and compare their origins, goals, leadership, methods, public image, conflicts, outcomes.
