One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Title:  One Crazy Summer (Garcia, R. (2010). One crazy summer. New York: Amistad).

Author:  Rita Williams-Garcia

Copyright 2010 by Rita Williams-Garcia

Published by:  Amistad

Reading level: recommended age: 9-12, Lexile reading level: 750L, accelerated reading level:  4.6

Suggested Delivery:  Independent, small group, or guided reading

Awards: Coretta Scott King Award Winner, 2011; Newberry Honor Book, 2011; Scott O’Dell Prize for Historical Fiction, 2011; National Book Award Finalist, 2010

Intriguing, Educational, Heartbreaking, Sentimental, Astonishing

Electronic resources to support reading:

1.      Author's Website: http://www.ritawg.com/

a.      This is the authors’ website where students can gain important facts regarding the author of One Crazy Summer as well as additional suggested books by Rita Williams-Garcia.

2.      http://www.ecslearningsystems.com/viewimagesandsamples/NU87241TG_S.pdf

a.      This is an excellent website to support learning of the text in the upper elementary levels (grades 5-6).  Students can gain skills and strategies for engaging with text and read more about the author while teachers can skim through various activities and lessons to increase comprehension of the text for varied levels of readers.

Teaching suggestions:

1.      Vocabulary: 

a.      dispatched,

b.      reverberated,

c.      stucco,

d.      flummoxed,

e.      indignant,

f.       begrudgingly

2.      Teaching strategies:

a.      Before reading:  Have students research the year 1968 and record significant events that took place in the world around that time (Civil Rights Movement, for example).  Students can document their findings by a timeline or other form of graphic organizer to organize their evidence.  It is imperative that students understand the way the world behaved in 1968 and important events that took place in the setting of the story to best comprehend the text.

b.      During reading:  Students can keep a journal while they read the text and record a question of their own they may have about an event, theme, or character after each chapter.  Students can also answer the following discussion questions in their journals while they read as homework to accompany the text: 

                                                    i.     “Choose a passage in the book that you impressed you; e.g., ―And that’s why you’re like Cecile. You want to be a fairy on TV more than you care how your kids will feel and if they miss you‖ (145).

                                                   ii.     How does this book challenge your assumptions or your understanding of African Americans?

                                                  iii.     How does this book challenge our understanding of ―history‖?

                                                  iv.     Could the following statement by Delphine have been made by a white person? ―I had managed to disgrace the entire Negro race, judging by the head shaking and tsk-tsking going on around us‖ (11).

                                                   v.     Delphine learns that ―expressions‖ don’t always reflect reality (23). What other examples of ―image‖ versus ―reality‖ can you find in the novel?

                                                  vi.     Is Cecile a better person than she is a mother?

                                                vii.     Does the absence of strong men in the novel bother you?

                                               viii.     Is this book as much about gender as it is about race?”

Questions provided by: (http://www.viterbo.edu/uploadedFiles/academics/letters/english/UnitPlanOneCrazySummer.pdf).

c.      After reading:  Once the students complete the discussion question independently, the teacher can conduct and lead a class discussion by covering each of the above questions orally in a whole group setting.  The class can discuss their thoughts, opinions, and share with each other their ideas and interpretations of the text.  The teacher can incorporate other content areas into the literature discussions as appropriate, such as: women’s rights, symbolism, family values, race/stereotypes, and citizenship.

3.      Writing Activities:

a.      The following writing prompt will inspire students to write by composing a short informative piece about their own name and personal history:  “Delphine researches her name. Explore the meaning or history of your name (first name or surname). What did you learn?” (http://www.viterbo.edu/uploadedFiles/academics/letters/english/UnitPlanOneCrazySummer.pdf)

b.      Students can also respond to quotes throughout the text in the form of a persuasive essay.  One example of a quote that could be used as a writing prompt: “We’re trying to break yokes. You’re trying to make one for yourself. If you knew what I know, seen what I’ve seen, you wouldn’t be so quick to pull the plow”‖ (Garcia, R. (2010). One crazy summer. New York: Amistad, pg 110).  Students can be asked to respond to what Cecile means when she states the above quote and why she feels that way.