Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    One Crazy Summer
    One Crazy Summer
    One Crazy Summer
    Audiobook5 hours

    One Crazy Summer

    Written by Rita Williams-Garcia

    Narrated by Sisi Aisha Johnson

    4/5

    ()

    Switch to ebook

    About this audiobook

    Eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters Vonetta and Fern travel to Oakland to meet their mother, Cecile, who abandoned their family years earlier. But even when Cecile gets them to her house, she shows no interest and seems to view them as nothing but a nuisance. Cecile's cold, unloving attitude leaves the girls wishing for the mother-daughter connection they've never had. But Cecile acts remarkably different after she sees her daughters at the Black Panther rally, where they recite a poem Cecile herself had written. At that point, Cecile's attitude toward her daughters begins a remarkable change. Rita Williams-Garcia has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and her novel One Crazy Summer was recognized as a New York Times Editor's Choice. Narrator Sisi Aisha Johnson relates the story with the refreshing honesty of a tale told through young Delphine's innocent eyes. "With memorable characters . and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading."-School Library Journal, starred review
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateDec 10, 2010
    ISBN9781449838348
    Author

    Rita Williams-Garcia

    Rita Williams-Garcia's Newbery Honor Book, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. The two sequels, P.S. Be Eleven and Gone Crazy in Alabama, were both Coretta Scott King Author Award winners and ALA Notable Children’s Books. Her novel Clayton Byrd Goes Underground was a National Book Award finalist and winner of the NAACP Image Award for Youth/Teen Literature. Rita is also the author of five other distinguished novels for young adults: Jumped, a National Book Award finalist; No Laughter Here, Every Time a Rainbow Dies (a Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book), Fast Talk on a Slow Track (all ALA Best Books for Young Adults); and Blue Tights. Rita Williams-Garcia lives in Jamaica, New York, with her husband and has two adult daughters. You can visit her online at ritawg.com.

    More audiobooks from Rita Williams Garcia

    Related to One Crazy Summer

    Related audiobooks

    Children's Family For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      We Shall Never Surrender

      Mar 6, 2024

      At 103, people often ask me if I have any rules that allow me to live so long. I can't say that I do, but the thing is to go on enjoying myself and try not to think about how many people I depend on. Since I first fell over, cracking all sorts of bon

      4 min read

    • Article

      My Gangfight On The Buses

      Jan 12, 2022

      My Gangfight On The Buses
      3 min read

    • Article

      Four Of A Kind

      May 3, 2023

      Four Of A Kind
      4 min read

    • Article

      Restless Souls

      Mar 6, 2018

      Restless Souls
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Last Friend on Earth

      May 4, 2023

      It was as if Doreen Saunders had been waiting for me, passing the time until my arrival. She might as well have been sitting in a rocking chair, knitting needles clicking, jam tarts cooling on the side, the door wide open, waiting for the next visito

      6 min read

    • Article

      Ghost Girl, Banana

      Aug 21, 2023

      By the time I was 25, there were only two things I remembered about Mumma. The first was that she smelled of watermelons, the second was that we were happy. We’d taken our father’s name of course, but a name is only half a story. The other half exist

      6 min read

    • Article

      OreoArroyo

      Jul 6, 2021

      WHEN THE STRIPPER STRUTTED INTO THE LIBRARY, SHE COULDN’T hide her dismay. Probably, she and her bodyguard expected a bachelor party or investment bankers celebrating a big deal at the mansion overlooking the Newport Coast. She wouldn’t have anticipa

      21 min read

    • Article

      My friend Jackie, by Carly Simon

      Jan 29, 2020

      It was the summer of 1983 when Carly Simon, by then famous for such hits as Nobody Does It Better, You’re So Vain and You Belong To Me, attended a dinner at the Ocean Club in Massachusetts’ affluent summer playground, Martha’s Vineyard. Also there th

      9 min read

    • Article

      Book Club

      Apr 27, 2022

      Book Club
      5 min read

    • Article

      Life In The past Lane

      Aug 27, 2021

      Life In The past Lane
      5 min read

    • Article

      Descent

      Jun 14, 2022

      People got out in strange ways. No stranger, I suppose, than the ways they got in. One year an American military helicopter flew too low over an Italian ski village, killing two families headed up the lift. A woman at Hillcrest had Italian citizenshi

      22 min read

    • Article

      My friend Jackie, by Carly Simon

      Jan 29, 2020

      It was the summer of 1983 when Carly Simon, by then famous for such hits as Nobody Does it Better, You’re So Vain and You Belong to Me, attended a dinner at the Ocean Club in California’s affluent summer playground, Martha’s Vineyard. Also there that

      9 min read

    • Article

      Cricket League

      Sep 1, 2020

      Cricket League
      7 min read

    • Article

      In America

      Aug 8, 2019

      In America
      11 min read

    • Article

      Five Poems

      Jul 1, 2023

      People let themselves down so hard they took to clappingwhen the plane lands. Sometimes even at the creditsof a movie. Their funerals turned out to be for the livingall along. You wouldn’t know how much they hatedcrowded trains by the way they kept b

      3 min read

    • Article

      ‘Death? I Can’t Wait For The Adventure!’ Most Haunted’s Yvette Fielding On Ghosts, Sceptics And The Afterlife

      Oct 4, 2022

      The First Lady of the Paranormal, also known as the Queen of the Night, is waiting for me at Crewe railway station in a bright red vintage Mini. I just about fold myself into the front seat. She cackles, performs a miraculous U-turn and puts her foot

      8 min read

    • Article

      Hollywood Baby

      May 10, 2022

      Hello. You may have frequently heard my name in the news these past few weeks. You may have heard it uttered as if I am a criminal or a reprehensible celebrity having a breakdown, which is what the broadcasting network would have you to believe. Howe

      20 min read

    • Article

      THE PRINCE of All Stars

      Sep 3, 2020

      THE PRINCE of All Stars
      9 min read

    • Article

      Second Language

      Aug 14, 2017

      Second Language
      9 min read

    • Article

      A Puzzle Of Nostalgia

      Aug 26, 2022

      A Puzzle Of Nostalgia
      5 min read

    • Article

      Hostess

      Dec 5, 2023

      I met Jill in 1982. We were working the Sydney-to-LA route, and she looked exactly the way an air hostess was supposed to: like Marilyn Monroe on stilts, playing the part of a firm, friendly nurse with a naughty inner life. None of the passengers wou

      20 min read

    • Article

      Scenes From A Marriage

      Mar 23, 2022

      Scenes From A Marriage
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for One Crazy Summer

    4/5

    678 ratings97 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      The book is truly intense and stunning. This could be based off on a movie someday.
    • 4/5
      Delphine and her sisters Vonetta and Fern have never known their mother Cecile who took off after Fern was born. They've been raised by their Pa and grandmother Big Ma. This summer, Pa decides to send the girls to Oakland to stay with Cecile so they can get to know her. Cecile is a poet and active with the Black Panthers, but as Delphine says, she is no kind of mother. Indifferent Cecile sends the girls off to the free Black Panthers breakfast served everyday and tells them not to come home until dinner. Delphine takes it upon herself to look out for her sisters during their visit, attending the Panthers' summer camp and learning about revolution and power to the people. Delphine doesn't allow herself to get too swayed by all the revolutionary talk but she does absorb enough to finally understand her mother. Delphine is a strong, observant, and practical girl, taking the initiative when she needs to. A wonderful character to get to know!
    • 5/5
      Delphine, Vonette and Fern don't know their mother - she left when fern was a baby and took off for California. Deciding that it's time, their father sends them from Brooklyn to spend a summer with mom. On arriving, they discover a mother who doesn't seem to want them there and sends them to spend their days at a Black Panther summer camp.
    • 4/5
      It would be nicer if we didn’t have to put our credit card info just to start the free trial
    • 5/5
      Amazing, touching book! I can’t wait to read it with my middle school students. I loved Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern’s characterization. This audiobook was narrated so well.
    • 5/5
      A honest and powerfull story about everything that is worthy. sometimes we rush to judge people when we don't know. I loved it!
    • 4/5
      Deftly written story of the 3 Gaither sisters, Delphine, Vonetta and Fern, as they travel to Oakland to meet their mother in a time of revolution and unrest. It's a powerful examination of love and abandonment, a moving portrait of a city and a people in the midst of fury over civil rights, and, oh yeah, also a really engaging children's book that's full of funny characters who have a lot of heart.

      It's only a little bit depressing to see how far we haven't come. I was delighted to discover that Cecile is printing on a letterpress in her kitchen -- she who has the press makes the news.
    • 5/5
      So fantastic the second time around. I am excited to discuss this with my kids at the library!
    • 4/5
      Eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, are sent by their father and grandmother in New York, to spend the summer of 1968 in Oakland, California, with the mother who walked out on the whole family right after Fern was born. They go hoping to find a warm, loving mother, but Cecile (who now goes by the name Sister Nzila) is cold and uncaring. She lets the girls sleep in her house, but mostly ignores them and leaves them on their own.It's the civil rights era, and the girls end up spending most of their days at a sort of day-camp operated by the Black Panthers. There, they see a positive side to the Panthers that they had never seen in New York, or on the news. They learn a little about a lot during their four weeks; and at the very end, the day before they leave, Delphine finally learns a little about her mother, and why she abandoned the family.
    • 2/5
      My main complaint about this book is how little background there is -- this is not a part of American history that most kids study or will understand without some explanation, I think, and Williams-Garcia just drops you right in. I would be all over this as a classroom read with plenty of discussion.

      (Though honestly, I also find that it hasn't stuck with me. Neither the characters nor the setting really sung for me. I was disappointed, given how critically acclaimed the book is.)
    • 5/5
      “We all have our la-la-la song. The thing we do when the world isn't singing a nice tune to us. We sing our own nice tune to drown out ugly.”

      Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, are flying from New York to California alone. Being the oldest, Delphine’s in charge, but it's not easy keeping two little sisters in line. What's even harder is the fact that it's the late 1960s, and they have the fear of Big Ma (their grandma) in them, which reminds them that they're representing all African-American people. Delphine doesn't want her sisters to do anything wrong. When they get to California, they are met by their mother, Cecile, who seems like a shifty character with her sunglasses and quick ways through the airport. Cecile abandoned them seven years before and doesn't seem very motherly when she takes them to her apartment. She won't even let them in the kitchen! Each step of the way, Delphine acts like a little mother trying to protect her sisters and help them to have the best experience possible. Cecile lets them do things they would never be allowed to do back in New York, like go out to pick up Chinese food for dinner by themselves in an unfamiliar city. This whole new world brings with it a slew of rules and way of living for Delphine and her sisters. When the girls go to a camp that's run by the Black Panthers, they see a lifestyle that's foreign to them, but Delphine loves seeing the way the people are spreading peace. When the girls are asked to take part in a rally, Delphine is sure that they should not be a part of it, because she knows how her dad and Big Ma would react. After she takes her sisters on a special sightseeing outing around San Francisco, a trip she has planned down to the last penny, they come back to find the police arresting Cecile and two men. What will happen now that the girls have no parent to live with? How will each girl change? Who will help them until it's time for them to go back to New York? What lessons are they learning? Should the girls participate in the rally? You have to read this amazing story to find out what life is like for these three girls in 1960s Oakland.


      One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is the story of three girls learning and growing. They move to a world unlike any they have known before, and a new way of life is unveiled to them. It showed me that you can't go miles away from home and live in a different environment without seeing things in a new light. My heart went out to Delphine as she tried to be a good older sister and a wonderful caretaker. I was so scared for her when her mom was taken to jail. I always feel bad for a character that has to grow up before their time, but at least in this case the girls are able to learn some important lessons. This book opened my eyes to a different culture and made me think about what it might be like for people to have a parent they never really knew. The voices of the girls jumped off the page, and I still feel like I know each one and can picture them easily. I recommend this book to kids in grades four and up because it will help them to see how far we've come as a nation and what life was like not that long ago. This is the first book I have read by this author, but I cannot wait to read more! I recently heard there is a sequel, and I look forward to picking it up. A must read for people that enjoy historical fiction and strong characters!
    • 4/5
      It's 1968, and Delphine is just eleven years old when she and her two younger sisters (Vonetta, age nine, and Fern, age seven), travel alone on an airplane from New York to Oakland, California, to see their mother Cecile, for the first time since Delphine was five.

      Only Delphine has any real memories of their mother.

      It's Delphine who tells the story, and Delphine who has to take responsibility for her sisters, even after Cecile picks them up at the airport. Cecile is cool, not at all motherly, and pays as little attention to them as possible. The girls long for the motherly affection and connection they've never had, and still don't have.

      Instead, Cecile sends them off each day to Black Panther "summer camp," at the community center. It's where they get breakfast, and it's where they get an education in black history, civil rights, and self-assertion that their father and grandmother, more laid-back and conservative personalities, never gave them.

      Cecile is a poet, and she has a printing press, and to the Panthers she's "Sister Anzilla." (Spelling is a guess; I listened to the audiobook.) She has a somewhat testy relationship with the Black Panthers, happy to send the girls to them for breakfast, summer school, and other activities during their month-long visit, but a bit resentful when the Panthers want her to use her printing press for their flyers and newspaper.

      What we see in this book is a view of the Black Panthers that, as a girl just about Delphine's age, but white, I certainly didn't get at the time.

      And I love Delphine. I had just one younger sister, even younger than Fern, and like Delphine, in many ways I became responsible for her. At that age, you can manage many of the tasks, but the responsibility is more of a burden than adults, overworked themselves and not remembering what it felt like to be that age, often don't recognize. Delphine does her best, mostly does quite well--and gets chewed out when she makes a wrong choice, even though no harm came of it. I wanted to cheer when she spoke up for herself then!

      It's a strange, crazy summer for the girls, especially Delphine, and they learn a lot and even, to some extent, start to find themselves as individuals.

      Recommended.

      I bought this audiobook.
    • 4/5
      In the summer of 1968, three young sisters travel on their own, sent by their father from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to visit their mother, who walked out on them when Delphine (the oldest, now 11) was only five. They spend a month trying to get to know this woman, who frequently reminds them that she didn't ask for them to visit and won't stand for them to disturb her peace and quiet while she writes poetry. So they spend their days at a community center run by the Black Panthers, coloring protest signs, handing out political flyers, and learning what it means to be empowered.I love how the two parts of the story - the sisters struggling to come to terms with their mother against the backdrop of Oakland in the late '60s - are woven together so well. It makes a compelling story, made even better by the lively characters of the the three sisters.
    • 5/5
      One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams- Garcia is a African American novel about three sister Delphine, Nanetta and Fern who lives in Brooklyn NYC with their father and grandmother and have to visit their distance mother in Oakland CA for their summer vacation. During their visits at their mother house they learn about the Black Panther Party and attend a summer camp that teaches that about Huey Newton, Self Defense and Black Power. Even though the girls' mother is still very distant and secretive, the girls grow to love her in their own way.
    • 4/5
      This book is a perfect introduction to the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panthers for young adult readers. Delphine and her sisters are believable and individually characterized. The mom, Cecil, is credible as well. This story of the girls' summer with their mom who abandoned them years ago is realistic, and engaging. The girls find themselves at the center of the Black Panther movement in Oakland, CA in the 1960s. The book skillfully blends historical accuracy with fictionalized characters. It is an enjoyable and informative read.This book would be a good one to include in a unit on the Civil Rights Movement. It is also a good source of some information about the Black Panthers. It is a good book to use when talking about family, and family relationships.
    • 5/5
      This is going to be a very short review because I can't imagine a better book to help teach young readers about the civil rights. The writing was perfect and the storytelling was exactly how it should have been. All I can say in reviewing this book is simply, "Get it. Get it and read it over and over again. Read it to your children and recommend it to everyone."
    • 4/5
      This book was special to me as it took place during 1968 which was one of the most tumultious years during civil rights. These three young girls are sent to spend a few weeks with a mother who abandoned them 7 years earlier. They are not welcomed when they get to her home in Oakland CA and she will not take care of them. They eat at the homeless shelter and their mother sends them to a
      Black Panther summer camp. The girls learn to grow up quickly. I recommend this book and it is on the Middle school battle of the books list this year.

      It’s 1968 and eleven-year-old Dephine and her two younger sisters have been sent from their Brooklyn home to Oakland to visit a mother they basically don’t know. Their mother, Cecil, left them right after the youngest sister was born. But now their father believes it’s time for the girls to know their mother and vice versa.

      When they arrive, it’s clear they are not welcome. It’s a good thing Delphine knows how to take care of herself and her sisters, because their mother has no intention of caring for them. When they complain of hunger, she sends them up the street for take-out Chinese food. In the morning she tells them to go to the People’s Center for breakfast. They are to stay there all day and join the Black Panther Day Camp.

      Delphine had high hopes of getting to know this mother she barely remembers. But, within a few days, Delphine believes she’s just crazy. Cecil has changed her name and calls herself a poet. Gradually Dephine changes her mind about her being crazy. But it’s not until the end of the story that Delphine, and the reader, get a glimpse into the background of Cecil.

      The other thing Delphine learned was a first-hand education in black history, black pride, and specifically the Black Panther movement. It’s all seen through the eyes of a child.
    • 5/5
      I just loved this book that takes place in the summer of 1968, in the thick of the fight for civil rights. The narrator is the oldest of three girls—Delphine is 11, her sisters Vonetta and Fern are 9 and 7— and live with their father and grandmother in Brooklyn. They are sent to their poet-activist mother in Oakland, California, to stay with her for the summer, to get to know her—though she soon makes it clear to the girls that she didn't send for them and they aren't welcome. She sends them out every morning to the The Black Panther-run People's Center, where they can get breakfast, lunch, an education in freedom and empowerment, and keep out of her way until dinnertime. The story is moving, at times humorous, and most of all, it shows history with women and kids in it.
    • 5/5
      One Crazy Summer is one monumental book! Classified as YA, it's a must read for anyone who ever was a child and/or had siblings. And a difficult family situation. And unknowable adults. Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern take their first flight from Brooklyn to Oakland to spend a month with their runaway mom during the 1960s. Told in Delphine's practical and brutally honest voice, the three girls stay true to themselves while immensely widening their worldview and their inner selves. They join the Black Panther Party's free breakfast and school program, and the reader learns the truth about this often maligned group, now so faded into the craziness of the era. Brilliantly written, a fast, heartfelt, memorable read.
    • 3/5
      Hmm. Maybe 3.5 stars. I guess this was good, but for some reason it didn't quite hit me. Maybe because there was no leavening humor, and the main character was a bit under-developed - she was more of a role-filler than a real person. Still, it belongs in every 5th-or 6th- grade Social Studies classroom, imo. Now I'm off to look up We Real Cool by Gwendolyn Brooks.
    • 3/5
      I thought it was a cute read about 3 sisters that fly from NY to CA to meet their mother, who never asked them to visit.
    • 4/5
      1968 Oakland, CA, Black Panthers, abandonment by mother
    • 3/5
      Delphine, Vonetta and Fern are sent to Oakland, CA by their Pa so they can meet the mother who abandoned them right after Fern was born. When they get to Oakland Cecile is nothing that they expected. The girls wanted her to shower them with affection but Cecile just isn't like that. As far as Cecile is concerned she didn't ask them to come visit and they should stay out of her way so she sends the girls to the Black Panther's summer camp every day.

      Delphine, Vonetta and Fern are all wonderful characters. I found them funny, interesting and a little bit sad. I wanted Delphine to be a kid so bad that it hurt sometimes. I thought Fern was so much smarter than anyone gave her credit for and Vonnetta has that interesting mix of total ham and fear of attention that I have always found intriguing. Cecile is definitely a litte bit crazy and I spent a chunk of the book thing Pa was crazy for sending them out Oakland. I thought Cecile's confessions to Delphine finally made her seem more normal and human. I had spent much of the book wondering if she had some kind of mental illenss and once the details were out a lot of things made sense. The historical details were really interesting and amazing and there were definitely a lot of parallels between what went on in this book and The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano.

      Due to some crazy time issues this book actually took a lot longer for me to read than it should of. I bring it up b/c I think this books short length would make it a great historical fiction read for a reluctant reader and I feel like read a historical fiction book is a middle school assignment on a fairly regular basis (I get it at least once a year.)

    • 4/5
      Entertaining and gave a great perspective of how it might have felt to be a young black girl from the east coast spending a summer in Oakland buring the Black Panther time frame.Easy read with lots to think about. Recommended!
    • 4/5
      Engaging read and fast read. I really got into the characters.
    • 4/5
      This was a good read but tough to get through. I was so angry with Cecile - she doesn't care for or interact with Dephine, Vonetta or Fern. I admired 11 year old Delphine for taking care of her sisters on the plane trip from Brooklyn to Oakland and while they were at their mother's. The story is well written and I liked seeing the p.o.v. of Delphine as she tries to figure out her place with her mother and as an African American girl. It was eye-opening to see the different ways that black families reacted to racism and prejudice. Delphine's father and grandmother wanted her to represent her entire race. Imagine how difficult that would be! Others, like the Black Panthers, wanted to fight back. This is a great story for exploring the Civil Rights period in the U.S.
    • 5/5
      I loved this from the first chapter! Delphine and her fierce determination to take care of her sisters, even while she sees their flaws. The historical details. Delphine's voice, her observations, the tension of her forced responsibility and her need to still be an 11 year old girl, and the complex figure of the girl's mother.
    • 4/5
      Being sent away from home to visit a mom who left them years ago, and still doesn't want them, Delphine and her sisters spend the summer in California, at a black panther camp. Being the oldest, Delphine bares the responsibility of keeping her sisters safe. A story of courage and change, students get a young person's point of view of what it was like to be an African American child in those days.
    • 4/5
      Delphine is older of three sisters living in Brooklyn. They live with their father and grandmother. A summer they travel to Oakland CA to spend time with their estrange mother, Cecile. She had abandoned kids when Delphine was young. So the three sisters arrive in Oakland ant rediscover parts of Oakland and San Francisco while interacting with the poet, political and strict mother they never knew. Delphine is mature beyond her years and takes over as the mother while there. Three sisters are involved with the Black Panther party and explore the West Coast culture. The girls do not have a nurturing mother but discover what and who she is. Definitely a transformation and learning it is to be young and no one have growing up. Coming of age, Black Panther, politics, poetry, multicultural perspective
    • 5/5
      Three girls are sent to their mother, Cecile in California. Her mother abandoned them when they were little. This funny, exciting, marvelous book is an incredible journey that is unforgetable. If you like kids who find some of their family, and really know where they came from, and some comedy hinted here and there, this will be a good story for you!