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eBook editions

One Crazy Summer

by Rita Williams-Garcia

One Crazy Summer Cover

ISBN13: 9780060760885
ISBN10: 0060760885
All Product Details

 

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

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.

Review:

"Williams-Garcia (Jumped) evokes the close-knit bond between three sisters, and the fervor and tumultuousness of the late 1960s, in this period novel featuring an outspoken 11-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. Through lively first-person narrative, readers meet Delphine, whose father sends her and her two younger sisters to Oakland, Calif., to visit their estranged mother, Cecile. When Cecile picks them up at the airport, she is as unconventional as Delphine remembers ('There was something uncommon about Cecile. Eyes glommed onto her. Tall, dark brown woman in man's pants whose face was half hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades. She was like a colored movie star'). Instead of taking her children to Disneyland as they had hoped, Cecile shoos them off to the neighborhood People's Center, run by members of the Black Panthers. Delphine doesn't buy into all of the group's ideas, but she does come to understand her mother a little better over the summer. Delphine's growing awareness of injustice on a personal and universal level is smoothly woven into the story in poetic language that will stimulate and move readers. Ages 9 — 12." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"Regimented, responsible, strong-willed Delphine narrates in an unforgettable voice, but each of the sisters emerges as a distinct, memorable character, whose hard-won, tenuous connections with their mother build to an aching, triumphant conclusion." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

About the Author

Winner of the PEN/Norma Klein Award, Rita Williams-Garcia is the author of six distinguished novels for young adults: most recently, Jumped; as well as no laughter here, Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children's Book), and Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); Blue Tights; and Like Sisters on the Homefront. The latter was named a Coretta Scott King Honor Book and was chosen as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults and a best book of the year by ALA Booklist, School Library Journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, The Horn Book, and Publishers Weekly. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, is on the faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children & Young Adults Program, and has two adult daughters, Michelle and Stephanie.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 2 comments:

CZ101, January 12, 2011 (view all comments by CZ101)
The year is 1968. The place: Oakland, California. Our heroes are three little girls traveling from New York to visit their poet mother, Cecile, who long ago left them--presumably to be an active member of the Black Panthers. Set during a time of great change not just for African Americans but for all Americans, this story is touching and unforgettable for many reasons, but no more so than for the young voice of its narrator, Delphine. She, and her sisters, will stay with you long after you close the book. Well-worth a read!
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elizabethcheri, January 1, 2011 (view all comments by elizabethcheri)
Rita Williams Garcia quickly gets your attention in One Crazy Summer and then proceeds to hold onto it throughout the remainder of the book. The character development of the three sisters as they are introduced to the black panther movement and re introduced to the mom who abandoned them is fascinating. The author tackles a segment of history that is rarely found in childrens lit, and she made it into a story that might very well act as a spring board for kids to learn more about it once the book is finished. Garcia found the right mix of history and fiction to make it appealing to kids as well as adults.
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780060760885
Author:
Williams-Garcia, Rita
Publisher:
Amistad
Author:
su propio destino y el de la tierra de Narnia.</p
Subject:
Sisters
Subject:
African Americans
Subject:
Family - General
Subject:
Girls & Women
Subject:
Social Issues - Prejudice & Racism
Subject:
Children s-General
Copyright:
Edition Description:
Hardcover
Publication Date:
20100126
Binding:
Hardback
Grade Level:
from 4 to 7
Language:
English
Pages:
224
Dimensions:
9 x 6 x 0.89 in 14.24 oz
Age Level:
09-12

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One Crazy Summer New Hardcover
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$15.99 In Stock
Product details 224 pages Amistad - English 9780060760885 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "Williams-Garcia (Jumped) evokes the close-knit bond between three sisters, and the fervor and tumultuousness of the late 1960s, in this period novel featuring an outspoken 11-year-old from Brooklyn, N.Y. Through lively first-person narrative, readers meet Delphine, whose father sends her and her two younger sisters to Oakland, Calif., to visit their estranged mother, Cecile. When Cecile picks them up at the airport, she is as unconventional as Delphine remembers ('There was something uncommon about Cecile. Eyes glommed onto her. Tall, dark brown woman in man's pants whose face was half hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades. She was like a colored movie star'). Instead of taking her children to Disneyland as they had hoped, Cecile shoos them off to the neighborhood People's Center, run by members of the Black Panthers. Delphine doesn't buy into all of the group's ideas, but she does come to understand her mother a little better over the summer. Delphine's growing awareness of injustice on a personal and universal level is smoothly woven into the story in poetic language that will stimulate and move readers. Ages 9 — 12." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review" by , "Regimented, responsible, strong-willed Delphine narrates in an unforgettable voice, but each of the sisters emerges as a distinct, memorable character, whose hard-won, tenuous connections with their mother build to an aching, triumphant conclusion."
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