One crazy summer

Label

One crazy summer

Statement of responsibility

Rita Williams-Garcia

Creator

• Williams-Garcia, Rita

Author

• Williams-Garcia, Rita

Subject

• African Americans -- Juvenile fiction
• Oakland (Calif.) -- History -- 20th century -- Juvenile fiction
• Poets -- Juvenile fiction
• Sisters -- Juvenile fiction
• Civil rights movements -- Juvenile fiction
• Mothers -- Juvenile fiction
• Black Panther Party
• Children's fiction

Genre

• Juvenile fiction

Language

eng

Summary

In this Newbery Honor novel, New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of three sisters who travel to Oakland, California, in 1968 to meet the mother who abandoned them. Eleven-year-old Delphine is like a mother to her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern. She's had to be, ever since their mother, Cecile, left them seven years ago for a radical new life in California. When they arrive from Brooklyn to spend the summer with her, Cecile is nothing like they imagined. While the girls hope to go to Disneyland and meet Tinker Bell, their mother sends them to a day camp run by the Black Panthers. Unexpectedly, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern learn much about their family, their country, and themselves during one truly crazy summer. This moving, funny novel won the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction and the Coretta Scott King Award and was a National Book Award Finalist. Readers who enjoy Christopher Paul Curtis's The Watsons Go to Birmingham and Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming will find much to love in One Crazy Summer. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern's story continues in P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama. This novel was the first featured title for Marley D's Reading Party, launched after the success of #1000BlackGirlBooks. Maria Russo, in a New York Times list of "great kids' books with diverse characters," called it "witty and original." Supports the Common Core State Standards

Subject

• Historical fiction
• Girls
• Poets
• African American fiction
• Oakland, California
• African American girls
• Eleven-year-old girls
• Sisters
• Civil Rights Movement
• Mother-deserted children
• Summer camps
• California
• First person narratives
• Mothers

Member of

• Gaither sisters

Genre

• African American fiction
• First person narratives
• Historical fiction

Story line

• Character-driven

Tone

• Moving
• Emotionally intense

Writing style

• Stylistically complex

Character

• Well-developed
• Culturally diverse

Award

• ALA Notable Children's Book, 2011
• Amelia Bloomer List, 2011
• Booklist Editors’ Choice: Books for Youth, 2010
• Coretta Scott King Award, Author Category, 2011.
• Parents' Choice Award for Fiction, 2010.
• School Library Journal Best Books: 2010
• Scott O'Dell Historical Fiction Award, 2011.
• School Library Journal Best Books, 2010.

Cataloging source

AU-TuBDP

Index

no index present

Intended audience

Children

http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/lexile

750

Literary form

fiction

http://library.link/vocab/ext/novelist/minGradeLevel

• 4
• 7

Series statement

Gaither sisters

Series volume

0001

Target audience

juvenile