Chapter Book #14 Write-Up

Author: Rita Williams-Garcia

Title: One Crazy Summer

Illustrator: N/A

Genre: Juvenile Fiction 

Subgenre: Drama

Theme: The value of sisterhood and motherhood and happiness found in being together as a family over time.

Primary/Secondary Characters: Cecile the mother, the father, and the three sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern

Award(s)/Publication Year: Coretta Scott King Medal Award Winner, Newbery Honor Book, Scott O'Dell Prize for Historical Fiction/2010

Publishing Company: Harper Collins Publishers

Brief Summary/Book Usage: This book is about a mother named Cecile whole abandons her three girls Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern with their father when they are all still very young. As the oldest of the three, Delphine turns 11, their father feels during the upcoming summer it is time that the girls leave to meet their mother and spend time with her to maybe get to know her. The girls really do not want to go, but their father says it is for the best for them to get know their mother. When the girls meet their mother, Cecile, she hardly pays them any mind and seems bothered with them being there in the first place. One day to get the girls out of her hair she sends them downtown to a center where they learn about the Black Panther's Movement. The girls learned about the movement and throughout the summer meet some new friends and even contribute to the movement. Delphine, the oldest, serves as a mother figure to her two younger sisters. She makes sure they are taken care of and does the things she feels a mother would do, even though they never really had one. Throughout the summer, despite their mother's behavior, their mother gets to know them and the girls start to open up to her. Overall, this book depicts the struggles these girls deal with after their mother leaving them and then going to visit her and her not being the person they expected at all. They all grow due to these struggles and the value of sisterhood and motherhood is apparent. I would use this book in the classroom when discussing family issues, such as a parent leaving when a child is at a young age. Helping these children see that they are not only in that type of situation may make them feel better about dealing with the pain and hurt they feel. I believe this book is a great book to help students relate to real world problems they are dealing with or have dealt with in the past.