One Crazy Summer
Written By Rita Williams-Garcia
Published by HarperCollins Publisher, 2010
Awards: National Book Award Finalist, Coretta Scott King
Award, Newbery Honor Book, Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Summary:
When three sisters travel across the country to find their birth
mother they are unpleasantly surprised. Instead of the warm, loving welcoming
that they expected, their mother gave them cold, tough love. Dinners consisted
of Mean Ming Chinese and air sandwiches every night until Delphine decided to
take a stand. If this wasn’t weird enough, the girls are sent to summer camp
sponsored by the infamous Black panthers. This crazy summer is filled with
struggle, lessons learned, and anything but Disneyland and Tinkerbell.
Crazy. Unbelievable. Tough Love. Family. Historical.
Grade Level: 4-7
Interest Level: 4.6
Lexile Measure: 750L
Description: Historical Fiction
Suggested Delivery: Small group
Key Vocabulary:
·
Black Panthers
·
Protest- express opposition through actions or
words
·
Rally- a large gathering of people intended to
arouse enthusiasm
·
Ignorance- the lack of knowledge or education
·
Defiant- boldly resisting authority or an
opposing force
·
Beret- flat, round hat
·
Indignant- angered at something unjust or wrong
·
Revolutionary- a radical supporter of political
or social change
·
Racist- discriminatory on the basis of skin
color
Electronic Resources:
Piktochart is an easy to use infographic maker. This is a
useful tool for many activities and projects, not only this novel.
Rita Williams-Garcia talks about the history behind some of
the scenes from One Crazy Summer.
Teaching Suggestions:
This link will lead you to a collection of discussion
questions and extension activities for One
Crazy Summer.
Before: Students
can complete a KWL chart before they start reading. This will consist of what
students already know, want to know, and learned from reading this novel. The
students can look at the cover and read the dust jacket for some background of
what the book will be about.
During: Literature
Circles are a great way to get students to have deep and meaningful discussion
about the reading. Each student will get assigned a “role” before the reading
is assigned. The roles include director, vocabulary enricher, literary
luminary, checker, and illustrator. While reading each person takes notes and
prepares for the discussion. When the students come together they share their
findings along with using academic language and listening skills.
After: There are
many metaphors and symbols throughout the novel. After reading there can be a
whole class, small group, or partner discussion about what they think some of
the symbols mean. Some of these include: Did Delphine’s ride on Hirohito’s
go-kart signify anything? Did Fern’s “blonde haired, blue-eyed” doll mean
anything? Did the broken stool in the kitchen suggest something?
Writing Activity: When
the sisters went on their day trip they stopped at a souvenir cart and bought
ten postcards; each sister got three. From the perspective of each sister write
one postcard to anyone of your choice. It could be to Big Ma, Pa, Cecile, other
kids from the camp, people from the rallies, or even Hirohito. Each student
should write a total of three postcards from each of the three perspectives,
containing any topic that can relate to the story.
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