One Crazy Summer

Diverse, Enlightening, Captivating, Unexpected, Cultural  

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Published by Amistad an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, Copyright 2010

Sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern, set off on an adventure to Oakland, California to stay with their mother for the summer—the mother who abandoned them when they were babies. As soon as they arrive they know they are not welcomed there. Cecile makes them eat Chinese takeout every night and sends them to a summer camp run by the Black Panthers. Despite her secretive behaviors and resistance to show love, Delphine and her sisters end up learning a lot about their mother than they thought they would.

Grade level: 5

Lexile Measure: 750L

Description: Historical fiction

Suggested delivery: Group read 

Electronic Resources:

Video of Author

Rita Williams-Garcia talks about her book, “One Crazy Summer” at Vermont College of Fine Arts in this video. She talks about how the story relates to her own life which may help students make their own connections. She also explains how she got ideas for the personalities of her characters and what she wants readers to get out of the story. This would be a good video to show students after they have finished reading the book. 

Black Panther Party Article

This is an article about the Black Panther Party from an encyclopedia made for kids. This would be a good resource for students to look at before they start the reading so they can acquire some background information that will help with comprehension. The article is written at an age-appropriate level and contains several links to information on important people that were involved and related topics.   

Teaching Strategies

Key vocabulary:

·     Scrutiny – the act of carefully examining something in a critical way

·     Infiltrate – to secretly enter or join

·     Riot – a public act of violence by an unruly mob

·     Militant – showing willingness to use strong or forceful methods to achieve something

·     Revolution – a drastic change in ways of thinking

·     Excursion – a short trip especially for pleasure 

Before reading: Since culture is the backbone to this story, have students do a little bit of research on the Black Panther Party and the civil rights movement before reading the book. Having this background knowledge will aid their comprehension as they read the story.

During reading: Have students separate into three groups to participate in a "jigsaw". Each group will be responsible for analyzing a different aspect of the story: characters, plot, and setting. Once each student has acquired enough information about their topic they will go to different groups and tech them the material.

After reading: Have students get into their small groups to practice and perform this reader's theater script:

 http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.oklibs.org/resource/resmgr/imported/Sequoyah_2013_RT_One_Crazy_Summer.pdf

Writing activity: Students should pay attention to ways they can relate to the story as they read. They should use either the text-to-self, text-to-text, or text-to-world model. Have students write a short paper going into detail about their connections. They should refer to specific examples from the story as well as specific examples from their life, other books, movies, etc.