One Crazy Summer (Gaither Sisters, #1) in Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge

Apr 10, 2010 Abby Johnson rated it really liked it

It's the summer of 1968 and Delphine and her two younger sisters are going across the country to California to spend the summer with their mother who left when Delphine was five years old. Who is this strange woman who writes poetry, allows no one in her kitchen, and sends them to the Black Panther summer day camp to get them out of her hair?

A great historical novel makes the reader feel like she's there and One Crazy Summer did that for me. I drank in all the details of 1968 Oakland. But, I dun ...more

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Sep 29, 2015 Melle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ny-new-york, read-in-2015, juvenile, copyright-2010, new-york, historical-fiction, fiction, sisters, african-american, 1960s

This was a fantastic book in its depiction of complicated parent-child relationships and sibling relationships, all set within the Civil Rights movement. Sweet, funny, wrenching, and thoughtful.

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Feb 03, 2014 Renata rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fiction, historical-fiction, we-need-diverse-books, childrens

OK, like Midwinterblood, this is a book I had a lot of misconceptions about? From the cover and title and intended audience, I assumed this was some kind of like fun Judy Moody-style adventure or something? But this book is REAL AS HELL. Like within the first few chapters, the girls' birth mom essentially tells all her kids she should have aborted them. ICE COLD.

I loved all three sisters, and I loved how this book makes the Black Power movement really accessible and relevant for tweens?? I think ...more

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Apr 15, 2010 Talia rated it really liked it

Shelves: j-fiction, newberry, j-historicalfic

It’s 1968, and sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are traveling all the way from New York City to Oakland, CA to see their estranged mother for the summer. When they arrive, they are dismayed to learn that mom Cecile is a grumpy, hard woman, an artist in the Black community who just wants to be left alone to her poetry. It’s up to oldest sister Delphine, who at 11, has to act as guardian for her little sisters, and they end up enrolling in a Black Panther summer camp. Through lessons of standin ...more

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Jan 31, 2016 Noam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: anglo-america, juvenalia, audiolibros

My mom read this book with some of her students, and she recommended it to me. It's a really interesting book, and it was great to be able to discuss it with my own mother.

I read it within 24 hours - starting with the audio-book, and then reading the physical book until 2 in the morning just to finish it. It was especially interesting because I'd just finished reading Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry and Between The World and Me. The themes of systematic racism and of family tied them together. Fami ...more

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May 16, 2022 Marisa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: j-fiction, middle-grade, booklist-top-50-middle-grade, summer-summer-summer-time, 2022

Loved the relationships between the siblings as well as the look at the Black Panthers as a community resource.

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Mar 13, 2021 Rae added it · review of another edition

Shelves: ya-childrens, 2021

Black Panthers. Poetry. Motherhood. Sisters. 1960s.

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Apr 30, 2020 Cheryl rated it it was ok

Shelves: juvenile-fiction, newbery-award, books-with-eleanor, black-authors

Read with Eleanor who gave this 4/5 stars. I am not sure what I thought of this book. As historical fiction it felt like it tried too hard at times. It mostly just made me sad about the estranged mother, her relationships with her daughters, and what we find out about her childhood. I think time will only tell how I feel about this book.

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