One Crazy Summer discussion

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is a fantastic book, it has very funny and lovable characters, they were unforgettable to me and are really one of my favorite book characters ever. The book also had a lot of poetic language in it and that stood out to me because it made the book way more interesting and intriguing. One Crazy Summer also addresses real life problems that African Americans face throughout time. This story is about an eleven year old Delphine and her two younger sisters who fly from their father’s home in Brooklyn to their mother’s in Oakland. Their mother is one who abandoned them six years ago and the same mother doesn’t want them now. They attend a Black Panther camp and Delphine discovers the Panthers are so much more than the negative press from the media. With sometimes touching irony, she learns to stand up for herself, to respect herself and to fight for what’s right. I really enjoyed this window into a collage of experiences that I, as a white person, cannot directly relate to for the most part. Williams-Garcia addresses abandonment, too-early responsibility, and the day-to-day life of the late-60s Black Panther movement in Oakland. Throughout the book I had very mixed emotions towards the mother. You want to hate her, but only an older child (and/or adult) will realized forgiveness is to love her. There are other roles and scenarios which also need further explanation throughout the book. This book was overall a great book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to play the guessing game until the last page.