Book Review of One Crazy Summer
The Children’s Book Review
One Crazy Summer
Written by Rita Williams-Garcia
Ages 11+ | 224 Pages
Publisher: Quill Tree Books | ISBN-13: 9780060760885
What to Expect: Historical Fiction
Have you read this classic award-winning novel yet? One Crazy Summer earned its well-deserved recognition and praise—a Scott O’Dell Award-winner for Historical Fiction and the Coretta Scott King Award and was a National Book Award Finalist.
It’s 1968, and three sisters are going from Brooklyn, New York, to Oakland, California, to spend the summer with their mom. Cecile, a poet, had left the girls seven years ago, and they have lived with their father ever since. The girls are excited about going to Disneyland and seeing movie stars. Will the trip turn out as expected? It turns out that their mom is much different than they thought she would be, and they end up having “one crazy summer.” They spend most of their time at the community center run by the Black Panthers Party and do their best to stay out of Cecile’s way.
Author Rita Williams-Garcia does a magnificent job of telling the story of how the girls work to regain their mother’s love during a revolutionary time in African American history. The sisters are unforgettable characters that draw you deep into the story. You’ll love all three of their individually powerful voices as they discover so much about themselves, their family, their culture, and the general lack of fairness that surrounds them in life.
Come on now; it’s time to go crazy over One Crazy Summer—an excellent and moving book punctuated with humor in all the right places. Get ready to laugh and cry! This heartwarming and witty story will have you hooked from beginning to end.
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About the Author
Rita Williams-Garcia (born 1957) is an American writer of young-adult novels. She won the 2011 Newbery Honor Award, Coretta Scott King Award, and Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction for her book, One Crazy Summer. She won the PEN/Norma Klein Award. Her book, P.S. Be Eleven, won the Coretta Scott King Award in 2014. In 2016 her book, Gone Crazy in Alabama won the Coretta Scott King Award.
What to Read Next if You Love One Crazy Summer
- P.S. Be Eleven, by Rita Williams-Garcia
- Gone Crazy in Alabama, by Rita Williams-Garcia
- The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis
- The Penderwicks, by Jeanne Birdsall
Bianca Schulze reviewed One Crazy Summer. Discover more books like One Crazy Summer by reading our reviews and articles tagged with Historical Fiction.