Williams-Garcia, Rita. (2010). One Crazy Summer. New York, New York: Amistad.
Brief Annotation: Three young sisters leave their father and grandmother in Brooklyn to visit their mother, who abandoned them when the youngest sister was born. They fly to Oakland, California to meet their mother, who is a poet and a member of the Black Panthers. Their mother is unwelcoming, and the children go to Black Panther summer camp to stay out of her way. They meet other children and adults involved in the Black Panther organization, and find themselves rethinking their lives in Brooklyn and their position as black children in America. They also rethink their relationship to their mother when she is arrested. The three girls return to Brooklyn with changed perspectives on their lives and their family.
Genre: Historical fiction
Grade Level: 4-8
Readers who will like this: Readers interested in race relations in America, readers who like stories with easily relatable characters, readers who are interested in the 1960s and 1970s.
Response/Rating (1-4): 4. This book was funny, insightful and interesting. The book gives the reader a good background on the Black Panther movement, and on racial tensions in Oakland at that time. The relationship between the three sisters is real, strained, and complicated, as is their relationship with their mother. The ending is very satisfying.
One question you would ask before a read aloud: What do you know about the Black Panther movement?
I read this book recently, too. It won a Newbery honor award this year--maybe you know that?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I liked it while reading it--thought the mother character was really unusual, her abandonment of the girls and her lack of enthusiasm to have them with her. Not only lack of enthusiasm, but lack of responsibility for keeping them safe! I couldn't believe the father let them go knowing what he knew about the mother's attitude. It was never really explained, either--the decision to send the 3 of them away for a month. I don't think the mom was pushing for that, so what made the father think it would be a good idea?
Anyway, the mother was interesting, I liked the oldest sister, the scene with the doll baby was heartbreaking, the whole Black Panther content would make an excellent topic for social studies, and I thought San Francisco was well-portrayed. I wonder if a San Franciscan would agree . . .