Historical Fiction - "One Crazy Summer"

Book Title:  One Crazy Summer	Author:  Rita Williams-Garcia
Illustrator:	Awards: 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
Book Type: chapter	Approx. Reading Level:
Age of Content Appropriateness: age 8 and up	Date Published: 2010
Genre and Topic: Historical fiction- non-traditional families, Black Panthers, 1968	Personal Rating of the Book:  5 plus.
ISBN: (13 or 10 digit) 978-0060760908

Summary-   

It is the summer of 1968 and three sisters, Dephine, Vonetta, and Fern are on a plane bound for California to meet Cecile, the mother who abandoned them.  Cecile is a poet and artist and she produces posters for the Black Panthers.   The three girls are not welcome guests in their mother’s life and they find themselves in the middle of the Black Panther movement, attending a Panther run day camp to keep them out of Cecile’s hair.  At first the sisters are holding to the ideas they have been taught by their father and grandmother back in Brooklyn but as the story progresses they begin to appreciate their mother for who she is and what she stands for.  

Ideas for using this book-

• ·         Excellent resource for a social studies unit on the 1960’s and the struggle for civil rights.
• ·         This book can also be a help for students in non-traditional families.  The Cecile character at first seems horrifying to have left her babies for life in California but as we begin to understand her more, Cecile becomes more likeable and easier to understand.  It could be a way to have students struggling with parental changes address the issue in a safe way as they discuss what Cecile did and how the rest of the family handled it.
• ·         Learn about the author at her website- http://www.ritawg.com/

·          

Vocabulary

muumuu dress- page 7- This is a very loose fitting dress that was popular in the late 60’s and early 70’s.   Because it was made of so much fabric it was often worn by very large women. 

collect call- page 38- long ago, people had to pay for long distance phone calls on their landlines.   Before there were cell phones people would use public phones that required money to be put in before a call could be made, if you didn’t have money you could call “collect” and the person receiving the call would have to pay the charges for the phone call.  This was a very expensive way to talk to someone.

Black Panthers- page 57- The Black Panthers was a group started in 1965 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton (who are mentioned in the story).  It was a militant group that hoped to take political power away from whites. 

Trait of the 6 + 1 Traits to Highlights

This book is certainly a perfect example of the voice trait.   There is no mistaking Delphine’s position on what is happening during that summer.   Williams-Garcia is able to take us right into her world, her viewpoint and her experiences. 

“While I was sitting with my sisters, I made up my mind about Oakland.  There was nothing and no one in all of Oakland to like.  I would get on a plane and fly back to New York if Big Ma showed up wanting her grandbabies.  I wouldn’t even tell Cecile “Thanks for the visit” (page 37)

“My eyes stung.  I was spilling-over mad.  I couldn’t stop what I had to say, even if she stood over me and became my crazy mother mountain and knocked me down.  I was spilling over.  ‘I’m only eleven years old, and I do everything.  I have to because you’re not there to do it.  I’m only eleven years old, but I do the best I can.  I don’t just up and leave.’ I was still on two feet.”  (page 206)

Concerns with This Book: (if any) none