One Crazy Summer- Book Review - TWU 5603- Spring 2012

1. BIBLIOGRAPHY Willians-Garcia, Rita. 2010. ONE CRAZY SUMMER. New York: Amistad. ISBN 9780060760885 2. PLOT SUMMARY When Delphine, Vonetta and Fern, a trio of sisters from New York, travel to Oakland, California to spend a month of summer with the mother who abandoned them years ago, they have no idea what a crazy summer it will be. Serving in spirit both her poetry and the Black Power movement that boils in Oakland and other cities in the 1960’s their mother Cecile is anything but maternal. Yet these young women, through their time spent in a community summer school supported by the charitable work of the local Black panthers, find a connection to their mother they never thought would exist. Fear and loss turn to acceptance and even pride as they reconnect with a woman so foreign to them they cannot even pronounce her new name, Nzila. Their connection grows, though, as their summer in Oakland leads to them new understandings of themselves and the woman who chose her pride over her children. 3. CRITICAL ANALYSIS Williams-Garcia uses the conflicting characters of the absentee mother Cecile/Nzila and the strong but highly conservative grandmother of the girls, Big Ma to show the forces drawing on many Black-American children in the tumultuous 1960’s in America. While the older sister, Delphine, tries to balance her desire to care for her sisters with her need to confront her mother and the environment she has been thrust into, the younger sisters exhibit both the desire to fit in, Vonetta, and the desire to be true to oneself, the youngest Fern. The author gives young readers a taste of the variety of experiences that children in and around the Black Power movement of the era might have encountered, and does so convincingly. Set in and around the city of Oakland, California, Williams-Garcia tells the tale of the three sisters as they struggle thro8ugh not only culture shock, but a battle of identity. They hear Big Ma in their mind’s eye trying to keep them on the straight and narrow as a Black woman trying to raise three young girls in a white world. When the younger girls began to act up in the airport, “Big Ma grabbed them by the first scruff of fabric she could get ahold of, bent down, and told them to ‘act right.’ There weren’t too many of ‘us’ in the waiting area, and too many of ‘them’ were staring.” Yet when they get to their birth-mother Cecile’s home in Oakland they are left to be cared for at a Panther day camp that tries to teach the girls to stand up for their rights, to protest and to try to bring change through confrontation. The entire plot unfolds in this context, and as the girls begin to accept a combination of these two identities, so too do the readers. This is the central theme of the story, respect for oneself as well as an acceptance of how flawed individuals can be loved, can be family. While the background of the Black Panther movement, unnecessary arrests included, counts this book as historical fiction, it is above all else a story of family, and the struggles we engage in to love those in our lives most difficult to understand. In terms of the authenticity of this particular work, very few sources are specifically sited. In an acknowledgements section at the end of the text the author specifically notes Black Panther accounts and perspectives as well as The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service. While general news articles and readings from the time period are noted no other specific sources are mentioned. The authenticity of the work could be better verified with an additional bibliography or works referenced section. 4. REVIEW EXCERPT(S) READINGRUMPUS.COM: “Author Williams-Garcia simply understood that most folks wouldn’t be shedding any of those tears for Delphine’s mother. I'm sure Ms. Williams-Garcia knew it was Delphine and the crazy summer she grew into a young lady of strength her mother could never have that makes One Crazy Summer an award-nomination worthy title..” KIRKUS REVIEWS: Each girl has a distinct response to her motherless state, and Williams-Garcia provides details that make each characterization crystal clear. 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..” 5. CONNECTIONS Coretta Scott King Award Winner National Book Award Finalist *Students could compare and contrast, through primary source research, the differing actions and reactions of groups supporting equal rights for Black-Americans in the 1950’s and 1960’s. *Students could attempt to locate primary source documentation such as newspaper articles and interviews that they could then compare to Williams’-Garcia’s telling of the story and determine how authentic they feel the story is based on their findings. *Other books for high school readers about Black Power and the Civil Rights Movement: Aretha, David. BLACK POWER. ISBN-10: 1-59935-164-1 Anderson, Michael. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT. ISBN-10: 1-40344-179-0