One Crazy Summer

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One Crazy Summer, Rita Williams-Garcia

I was really excited to read this book as it caught my eye at the Spring Bookfair. It received multiple awards and sounded like a neat storyline. It was the first book I decided to delve into this summer.

This story is about eleven-year-old Delphine and her two sisters, Vonetta and Fern. Their mother, Cecile, had abandoned them several years ago and the girls knew very little about their mother. Their father and grandmother (Big Ma) send them from Brooklyn out to Oakland, California to stay with Cecile for the summer.

Cecile is certainly not like most mothers you know of and really wants nothing to do with the three girls. She makes them eat Chinese takeout, refuses to call Fern by her name, and won't let them into her kitchen. In addition, she sends the girls off each day to a summer camp run by the Black Panthers where the girls end up being wound up in more of the revolution than they anticipated.

It is important to note that this story takes place during a very tumultuous time in history where many people, African-Americans in particular, were fighting for equal rights. People were very passionate and willing to contribute to the cause in many different ways.

I liked this book, although it is difficult for me to explain why... Delphine is a great character. She is strong, independent, and really takes pride in looking after her sisters. I felt a strong connection with her being the eldest in my own family (there are three of us as well!). Throughout the story, you keep waiting for the mom to come around and show some emotion or compassion, and she never really does - or at least not in the way I had hoped for. Regardless, the book was an enjoyable read about the sisters' escapades in California and how they became involved in an important part of history.

Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars