One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

ONE CRAZY SUMMER
By Rita Williams-Garcia

🏆 Newbery Honor Book | Coretta Scott King Award Winner

Genre: Middle Grade Fiction | Historical Fiction | Family & Sisterhood | African American History
Recommended Age: 9–13 years

Three sisters. One unforgettable summer. A journey of family, identity, and discovery.

In the summer of 1968, eleven-year-old Delphine and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, travel from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to spend a month with the mother who abandoned them years ago. Hoping for a warm welcome, they instead find Cecile distant and unwilling to play the role of mother. She sends the girls to a summer program run by the Black Panthers, where they discover a world of activism, community, and unexpected lessons.

As the sisters navigate a turbulent moment in American history, they begin to understand their family, their heritage, and themselves in new ways.

A powerful, heartwarming story about sisterhood, belonging, and finding your voice during a summer that changes everything.