#delphine vonetta and fern

[thisismisogynoir]

Who are your favorite black girl characters , animated or live action

Ooh! This is a good one! 

One of my favorite characters is Cinderella in the 1997 adaptation starring Brandy! It's one of my favorite movies(a lot of my favorite movies star Black girls/girls in general!), since when I was younger it gave me a boost of confidence seeing a Black girl as feminine, beautiful, graceful, and most importantly, a princess! Many young girls dream of being princesses too! Princesses aren't only white!

From my favorite book, Natasha from The Sun is Also a Star! She has a unique personality and also defies stereotypes in many ways: she is logical, is very nerdy, she's not a good singer, she's secretly afraid she'll drown(okay, maybe not EVERY stereotype), she has a hard time opening up to people but eventually she does, her favorite color is pink, and SHE'S JAMAICAN!!!! AND THERE IS PATOIS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK! LIKE HELL YEAH!!!!!(that part legitimately made me smile and excitedly show my mom like I was in 1st grade tho!) What's funny is that at first she assumes her Asian boyfriend will know about nerdy stuff, too, but he doesn't know a thing, and she ends up being surprised and explaining this stuff to him. Just a nice way of subverting stereotypes, I guess.

From an anime: S.AM. from Cannon Busters! She's a really cute robot girl who is sweet, girly, and wants to be friends with everyone. However, she also has a hidden dangerous side which comes out whenever someone threatens her and her friends. My one nitpick about her is that she has blonde hair and blue eyes. Can we please stop setting apart Black and brown characters by giving them white phenotypical features, as if those features are more magical, special, and unique(yeah, I know that Melanesians exist, but let's face it, unless it's explicitly stated in the story, we all know that's not what they're thinking of when they write it.)?! Please?! Though at least her hair is poofy and curly. So I still find her adorable.

And of course, how could I forget Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog? Not only does she stick to working on her career, but she gets a handsome prince and gets to get married and wear beautiful dresses, showing that you don't have to choose between a career and romantic pursuits! And her friendship with Charlotte is also sweet, especially considering the time period she lives in! What I like about Tiana is her ambition and hard work, as well as her kindness, helpfulness, and generosity. And I'm so happy to see a non-whitewashed dark-skinned Black female protagonist in media who is portrayed as attractive. Far more than you can expect from most mainstream media.

One movie I was OBSESSED with as a young Black girl was Annie. No, not the original redhead Annie, although I liked her, too. The 2014 Annie. The BLACK Annie, played by Quvenzhané Wallis. You know the one, because there's only one. The movie itself was great, especially with the energeticness and precociousness that Annie embodied, but Annie being Black gave me the representation I needed and deserved! Because of her I wore my twists out for the first time! I even revolved my entire wardrobe around what I thought Annie would wear. And I obsessively and religiously watched that movie on repeat and listened to all of their songs. I was nine, I was crazy.

There's also Cecile Rey from the American Girl book series. I like her because she's outspoken, bold, and confident, and helps Marie-Grace out of her shell. There's one badass scene where she and Marie-Grace swap places in the Mardi-Gras children's balls, which they can get away with due to wearing matching outfits(this is during segregation.). AND THEY GET AWAY WITH IT. I have a doll of her that I bought for Christmas when I was nine. I saved up my own money to buy it. I can't even kid here. I. Wanted. THAT. DOLL!!!!

Ahem. Anyway. There's this book called One Crazy Summer that details the lives of three sisters: Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern. Vonetta was always my favorite character for her wild enthusiasm and dramatic...just, EVERYTHING. I also was the most invested in her character development tbh. The books follow Delphine, though, and I started to like her and Fern as well. I wanted the next two books to focus on Vonetta and Fern respectively, but they ended up all focusing on Delphine. But I felt a close relationship to all the characters.

The Blossoming Universe of Violet Diamond. The main character is half-white but I thought I'd include her anyway since the book is all about her learning about and embracing her Black side, and getting to know some of her Black relatives. She also has a really beautiful name!

Zoe from Dork Diaries. A good friend who, like Chloe, always supported Nikki!

Penny Proud from The Proud Family, who is not only the main character but is my favorite character in the entire show! Super relatable and I loved the episode on slut-shaming.

Now, kids shows:

Iridessa was my favorite fairy in Disney Fairies

Nikki in Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse(and any Black Barbie tbh)

Princess Pea in Super Why!

Sasha in Bratz

Orange Blossom in Strawberry Shortcake

Jackie in Cyberchase!

Black girls in webcomics! My favorite is this obscure webcomic I don't know if a lot of people know called Princess Love-Pon! It's Magical Girl, which is my favorite genre ever! And is about a girl named Lia Sagamore who, due to her pure heart, is gifted the ability to become a cute warrior in petticoats named Princess Love-Pon! It's pretty obvious, really, but it's also a heartwarming story that has love, friendship, and romance, femininity as power, and also a diverse cast, with Lia's main friend group composing of an Afro-Latina best friend and a Japanese girl. Also has interracial relationships!

Another Magical Girl webcomic starring Black girls is Adorned By Chi! It takes place in Nigeria and is about a college student named Adaeze Adichie and her group of friends who fight monsters that are plaguing the planet. All of these girls are Black and there is also a Black guy who is the love interest! Adaeze is sweet, soft, sensitive, and feminine, and is prone to anxiety and crying, something which is not only personally relatable to me, but allows for stereotypes to once again be destroyed!

Undine Wells from Sleepless Domain. She has a nice design, a sweet and endearing personality, and has water powers! Her blue hair and eyes remind me of a character I created for one of my stories who, obviously, is also a Black girl. And not only that, but she's a femme lesbian who gets with her best friend Kokoro. So triple representation of a Black, female, AND gay character!

And Talia from LoliRock! I can't even choose which of the three girls is my favorite because I love them all, but this blog is about Black girls so I'm talking about her. She's a very interesting character with a tragic backstory. I won't spoil it, but despite being serious and cold on the outside, she is romantic and affectionate on the inside, and cares deeply about her friends and loved ones. She is also a good leader due to her dispassionate nature, and is the strategic problem-solver among the group.

Zuri from Hair Love, a short film about a little Black girl learning to love her hair, as her dad learns how to style it. One of the few pieces of Black media I've seen in which the mother is darker-skinned than the father. If you haven't seen it, then stop reading this and go see it now.

Young child me was also obsessed with A.N.T. Farm, starring China Anne McClain, so I'm definitely adding China to the list. I wanted to be a singing and musical prodigy because of her. She was such a talented, funny, and larger-than-life character, she CARRIED the show!

Basically any role Zendaya played(minus Zoey in Zapped!), such as Rocky in Shake it Up! and K.C. in K.C. Undercover.

And I can't believe I brought up a Brandy role and neglected to mention Moesha! Moesha is such an admirable character for her confidence and supportiveness of her friends, not to mention her feminism! It's an old show from the 90s, and yet it feels nostalgic even though I didn't watch it when I was younger, but more recently. Weird.

All the girls on The Bernie Mac Show, but especially Vanessa. I loved her character development and how she went from just being a bratty teenage daughter to a mature young woman.

Aaaaaaaand, that's just about it! I never thought I'd have this much! Please check out these works of media, it would mean everything to me! I know I inevitably forgot some but I'll be sure to follow up if I do! Reblog or reply with your own Black female characters whom you love and remember! Black girls are everything!

[firstbook]

Looking to get your kids reading?  Here’s some of our favorite titles.

K-2

Princess Posey and the First Grade Parade by Stephanie Greene

Posey is very nervous about starting first grade and walking into school all by herself. Worst of all, she has to do it without the one thing that always makes her feel brave and special: the tutu that turns her into the Pink Princess. How will Posey face the first day of school without it?

Mamá the Alien / Mamá La Extraterrestre (Bilingual, English/Spanish) by René Colato Laínez

A young girl misunderstands the word alien on her mother's Resident Alien Card and lets her imagination run wild, coming to the conclusion that her mother is from outer space. 

Good Night Owl by Greg Pizzoli

Owl is ready for bed. But as soon as he settles in, he hears a strange noise. He'll never get to sleep unless he can figure out what's going on!

We Are Growing! by Laurie Keller

Walt is not the tallest or the curliest or the pointiest or even the crunchiest. A confounded blade of grass searches for his "est" in this hilarious story about growing up.

The Cookie Fiasco by Dan Santat

Four friends. Three cookies. One problem. Hippo, Croc, and the Squirrels are determined to have equal cookies for all! But how? There are only three cookies … and four of them! They need to act fast before nervous Hippo breaks all the cookies into crumbs!

3-4 

The Lemonade War by Jacqueline Davies

As the final days of summer heat up, so does a sibling showdown over a high-stakes lemonade stand business. Jessie and Evan Treski compete to see who will make $100 first off of their respective lemonade stands.

Zapato Power: Freddie Ramos Takes Off by Jacqueline Jules

One day Freddie Ramos comes home from school and finds a strange box just for him. What's inside? ZAPATO POWER—shoes that change Freddie's life by giving him super speed!

Pax by Sara Pennypacker

After being forced to give up his pet fox Pax, a young boy named Peter decides to leave home and get his best friend back.

Secret Coders #3: Secrets & Sequences  by Gene Luen Yang

Stately Academy is no ordinary school: it was once home to an elite institute where teachers, students, and robots worked together to unravel the mysteries of coding. Hopper, Eni, and Josh won't rest until they've learned the whole story, but they aren't the only ones interested in the school's past.

Malala: A Hero for All by Shana Corey

Even as a young girl in Pakistan, Malala spoke up about the importance of girls' education, via speeches and a blog. Since the Taliban regime was intent on denying girls an education and silencing anyone who disagreed with their laws, this was very dangerous. Malala was shot, but she survived the attack and it did not silence her. 

5-6

The Kane Chronicles #3: The Serpent’s Shadow by Rick Riordan

He's b-a-a-ack! Despite their best efforts, Carter and Sadie Kane can't seem to keep Apophis, the chaos snake, down. Now Apophis is threatening to plunge the world into eternal darkness, and the Kanes are faced with the impossible task of having to destroy him once and for all.

Hour of the Bees by Lindsay Eagar

What does it mean to be fully alive? Magic blends with reality in a stunning coming-of-age novel about a girl, a grandfather, wanderlust, and reclaiming your roots.

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

The Night Gardener follows two abandoned Irish siblings who travel to work as servants at a creepy, crumbling English manor house. But the house and its inhabitants are not quite what they seem. Soon, the children are confronted by a mysterious stranger--and an ancient curse that threatens their very lives.

Booked by Kwame Alexander

Soccer, family, love, and friendship take center stage as twelve-year-old Nick learns the power of words as he wrestles with problems at home, stands up to a bully, and tries to impress the girl of his dreams.

Max’s Lucha Libre Adventures: Maximilian & the Lucha Libre Club (Bilingual, English/Spanish) by Xavier Garza

Max seems like any other kid until he is asked to join the Lucha Libre Club, but because of strict secrecy, he cannot tell anyone of his royal wrestling blood: his uncle is the king of lucha libre, the Guardian Angel.

  7-8

Raymie Nightingale by Kate DiCamillo

Raymie Clarke has come to realize that everything, absolutely everything, depends on her. And she has a plan. If Raymie can win the Little Miss Central Florida Tire competition, then her father, who left town two days ago with a dental hygienist, will see Raymie's picture in the paper and (maybe) come home. 

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. Even though her father and Big Ma will send them from Brooklyn to Oakland, California, to stay with Cecile for the summer. And even though Delphine will have to take care of her sisters, as usual, and learn the truth about the missing pieces of the past.

A Well and Wong Mystery #1: Murder is Bad Manners by Robin Stevens

Two friends form a detective agency—and must solve their first murder case—in this first adventure in a brand-new middle grade mystery series set at a 1930s boarding school.

The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin

Twelve-year-old Suzy Swanson wades through her intense grief over the loss of her best friend by investigating the rare jellyfish she is convinced was responsible for her friend's death.

Zack Delacruz: Me and My Big Mouth by Jeff Anderson

Zack Delacruz is unnoticed at his middle school—and that’s just the way he likes it. But a school assembly, a typhoon of spit, and an uncharacteristic moment of bravery are all it takes to change everything. Suddenly Zack is in charge of the class fundraiser. Worse, his partner is the school’s biggest bully! If they don’t sell all the chocolate bars, there will be no dance for the sixth grade. Zack never wanted to be a hero, but with his classmates’ hopes on the line, can he save the day?

High School

A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman

Veda, a classical dance prodigy in India, lives and breathes dance--so when an accident leaves her a below-knee amputee, her dreams are shattered. For a girl who's grown used to receiving applause for her dance prowess and flexibility, adjusting to a prosthetic leg is painful and humbling. But Veda refuses to let her disability rob her of her dreams, and she starts all over again, taking beginner classes with the youngest dancers. 

Remember Dippy by Shirley Reva Vernick

Johnny's plans fly out the window when he finds out his single mother is leaving town for the summer. She has a breakthrough job in upstate New York. He can live with his Aunt Collette but only on the condition that he "help out with" his autistic older cousin, Remember. Yup, you heard it right: Remember Dippy. 

March: Book Three by John Lewis

By the fall of 1963, the Civil Rights Movement has penetrated deep into the American consciousness, and as chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, John Lewis is guiding the tip of the spear. Through relentless direct action, SNCC continues to force the nation to confront its own blatant injustice, but for every step forward, the danger grows more intense: Jim Crow strikes back through legal tricks, intimidation, violence, and death. The only hope for lasting change is to give voice to the millions of Americans silenced by voter suppression: "One Man, One Vote."

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Fifteen-year-old Lina is a Lithuanian girl living an ordinary life--until Soviet officers invade her home and tear her family apart. Separated from her father and forced onto a crowded train, Lina, her mother, and her young brother make their way to a Siberian work camp, where they are forced to fight for their lives. Lina finds solace in her art, documenting these events by drawing.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

To explore more great titles, check out Summer Reading section on the First Book Marketplace. 

[beatrizestrada-blog1]

One Crazy Summer

By: Rita-Williams Garcia

Bibliography:

Williams-Garcia, Rita. One Crazy Summer. Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press Large Print, 2018.  ISBN: 978-0060760908

Plot Summary:

One Crazy Summer tells the story of three sisters that travel on their own to see their estranged mother in Oakland, California.  Once they get to Oakland, they face several challenges. While the girls hope to spend time with their mother and go to Disneyland, their reality is totally different. The girls’ dreams of connecting with their mother were broken when Cecile told the girls ‘I didn't send for you. Didn't want you in the first place. Should have gone to Mexico to get rid of you when I had the chance.’  Cecile does not care for the girls, so she sends them to ‘The People’s Center,’ which is ran by Black Panthers, making it one crazy summer. The People’s Center is a camp where the girls received breakfast and got a ‘radical education’ as they go there every day.  After learning about the rally to protest the injustices of the killing of Bobby Hutton and the imprisonment of Huey Newton, Delphine was not sure in wanting to participate, while Vonetta and Fern were excited about the upcoming event.  After a trip to San Francisco, the girls get back to finding their mother and two Black Panther members being arrested. Will this encourage the girls to participate in the rally?  Will the girls get to know their mother better before they head back to Brooklyn? The readers will be surprised with this moving story.

 Critical Analysis:

One Crazy Summer is a moving and heartbreaking historical fiction story.  The author, Rita Williams-Garcia, did an exceptional job portraying the story through the view of an eleven year-old girl.  Delphine is seen as a sensitive, intuitive and strong young girl, as she always did her best to take care of her younger sisters. Rita Williams-Garcia delightfully contemplates the 1968 Oakland Civil Rights Movement with the journey of Delphine, Vonetta and Fern.

This book also reveals several issues, such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panthers, identity and abandonment.  The girls discovered many things throughout their time at The People’s Center about the Black Panthers.  Delphine always thought about the importance of identity by stating that ‘A name is important. It isn’t something you drop in the litter basket or on the ground. Your name is how people know you.’  She didn’t understand why her mother had changed her name, changing her identity. It was also important for the girls to understand why their mother had abandoned them. One Crazy Summer is a book in which readers will fall in love with because it was a summer where the girls made a lot of discoveries.

 Review Excerpts:

·         National Book Award finalist

·         Coretta Scott King Award 

·         Newbery Medal Honor

·         Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction 

★ “Delphine is the pitch-perfect older sister, wise beyond her years, an expert at handling her siblings...while the girls are caught up in the difficulties of adults, their resilience is celebrated and energetically told with writing that snaps off the page.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review)) ★ “Regimented, responsible, strong-willed Delphine narrates in an unforgettable voice, but each of the sisters emerges as a distinct, memorable character, whose hard-won, tenuous connections with their mother build to an aching, triumphant conclusion.” (Booklist (starred review)) ★ “The setting and time period are as vividly realized as the characters, and readers will want to know more about Delphine and her sisters after they return to Brooklyn.” (Horn Book (starred review)) ★ “Emotionally challenging and beautifully written, this book immerses readers in a time and place and raises difficult questions of cultural and ethnic identity and personal responsibility. With memorable characters (all three girls have engaging, strong voices) and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading.” (School Library Journal (starred review)) “Delphine’s growing awareness of injustice on a personal and universal level is smoothly woven into the story in poetic language that will stimulate and move readers.” (Publishers Weekly) “In One Crazy Summer Williams-Garcia presents a child’s-eye view of the Black Panther movement within a powerful and affecting story of sisterhood and motherhood.” (Monica Edinger, The New York Times) “One Crazy Summer absolutely blew me away. What an amazing and beautifully written story. This novel is just glorious.” (Jacqueline Woodson, author of the Newbery Honor Book After Tupac & D Foster)

Connections:

Gather other Simms Taback books to read such as:

v  P.S. Be Eleven ISBN  978-0061938641

v  Gone Crazy in Alabama ISBN 978-0062215895

v  Like Sisters on the Homefront ISBN  978-0140385618

v  Jumped ISBN 978-0060760939

 Classroom Connections:

v  This book can be used at the beginning of a Social Studies Lesson (past events).

v  This book can be used as a Writing Activity (alternative ending).

[childrensliteratureworld-blog]

A Lot Can Change in 50 Years - Or Not

Set in Oakland, California in 1968, One Crazy Summer tells the humorous story of three young black girls who are sent to visit their estranged mother for a month. They are thrown into the Black Panther Movement when they are forced to eat breakfast at the summer program every morning, and through their experiences, the main character, Delphine, learns a lot about herself, her family, and current events. Delphine is a strong, independent young girl who is counting down the days until she and her sisters can go back to the safety of New York. Back in 1968 and today, The Black Panther Movement is typically seen in a negative light because of the violence that occurred during there protests. As the story progresses, Delphine is more or less persuaded into advocating for their movement, and she realizes what the Black Panther Movement is truly about - sticking up for everyone’s rights. The people who attend the summer program are not all violent black people, they are people of every race hoping to see some change. 

What struck me through the entire story, was the fact that these political movements that happened throughout the 60s and 70s are still occurring today. This story was published in 2010, just three years before the Black Lives Matter movement was created. Back in January, I had the opportunity to go to a Black Lives Matter presentation led by Patrice Cullors - a BLM co-founder. Throughout her speech, Cullors talked about the events that led up to creating the entire movement, and they all had to do with the unjust treatment of African Americans by police or civilians in the United States. On page 128 in the story, Delphine is worried that she and her sisters are going to make one wrong move and end up like the people they hear about on the news. She thinks to herself “The police who patrolled the Center could be chasing someone, burst in, shoot first, and ask questions later”. In 1968, people of color had to learn how to act when a police officer came up to them, and almost 50 years later, times have not changed. The stories that Cullor’s told the audience back in January were eerily similar to those in the story, but now the stories are made even more real by the use of technology on scene, and not just word of mouth. It is disheartening to realize that the United States is still dealing with the same problems it has been dealing with for over half a century, but the passion that these movements are fueled by makes a reader, viewer, or activist hopeful for the future.

Perhaps my favorite part of the book is when Delphine, her sisters, and their friends at the summer program go around town asking store managers to display their fliers for rally. Their teachers told them to hold their heads high no matter what the answer was. As Delphine described each yes or no they received, I would flip to the front cover of the book at look at the illustration of them walking with their heads held high. For students experiencing any type of discrimination or ignorance, this story is a helpful tool to hand them. Delphine handled the “no’s” from store owners with the utmost respect, and then put it on her list of places they wouldn’t bring their service again. Although dealing with these types of encounters can be frustrating to an 11 year old (or anyone), a teacher can tell their student to hold their head high and move on. One Crazy Summer may be one story of a dysfunctional family living in Oakland, California amidst a major civil rights movement, but in it, it holds many stories of trial and error among a group a people united for a cause. People of all ages can gain something from reading about Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern’s busy summer trying to know their mother, and maybe be empowered to stand up for their own rights or someone else’s. 

- Erica Wisniewski (13.6)

Williams-Garcia, R. (2010). One Crazy Summer. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of Harper Collins.

[readingjunky]

It's 1968. Delphine, and her two young sisters, Vonetta and Fern, journey from Brooklyn, NY, to Oakland, California to spend a month with a mother they have never really known.  According to their father, it is time they spend some time Cecile.

The three girls board the plane with varying degrees of excitement. Delphine has vague memories of her mother, Vonetta was just a baby, and Cecile was pregnant with little Fern. All Delphine remembers is watching Cecile leave days after the birth of her third daughter. The story Delphine has always heard was that their father refused to allow Cecile to name the newest baby one of her made-up, imaginary names. She took one last look at her newborn daughter in her crib and left.

The visit to Oakland is quite the adventure. Cecile, a self-described poet, is busy with her art and doesn't have time for the foolishness of taking care of three young girls. During the day, she ships them off to a community center for free breakfast and lunch at a summer school program sponsored by the Black Panthers. Delphine, used to watching over her sisters, takes on the role of mother as she plans activities, cooks supper for all of them, and keeps the peace when her mother is agitated.

Despite her mother's odd and neglectful behavior, Delphine is determined to connect with her and get to know as much as she can about this strange woman. They may not get to visit Disneyland, but they do take memories back to Brooklyn of an independent woman and first hand knowledge of an important time in the history of civil rights.

[anebebebooks]

Gone Crazy in Alabama

Rita Williams-Garcia

Coretta Scott King Award winner * ALA Notable Book * School Library Journal Best Book of the Year * Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year * ALA Booklist Editors’ Choice * Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year * Washington Post Best Books of the Year * The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books Blue Ribbon Book * Three starred reviews * CCBC Choice * New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing * Amazon Best Book of the Year

The Coretta Scott King Award–winning Gone Crazy in Alabama by Newbery Honor and New York Times bestselling author Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of the Gaither sisters as they travel from the streets of Brooklyn to the rural South for the summer of a lifetime.

Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are off to Alabama to visit their grandmother Big Ma and her mother, Ma Charles. Across the way lives Ma Charles’s half sister, Miss Trotter. The two half sisters haven’t spoken in years. As Delphine hears about her family history, she uncovers the surprising truth that’s been keeping the sisters apart. But when tragedy strikes, Delphine discovers that the bonds of family run deeper than she ever knew possible.

Powerful and humorous, this companion to the award-winning One Crazy Summer and P.S. Be Eleven will be enjoyed by fans of the first two books, as well as by readers meeting these memorable sisters for the first time.

[childrensliteratureworld-blog]

Be Eleven, Child

One Crazy Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia is a juvenile historical fiction novel that takes place during the sixties. Delphine, age eleven, mothers her two younger sisters Vonetta, who is nine, and Fern, who is seven. This summer they are visiting their estranged mother, Cecile, who left them in New York many years before. The girls are so thrilled to get to spend time with their mother and experience the love they thought they had been missing out on their whole lives. Throughout this blog post, I will discuss how this book expresses what it means to truly feel and fill the void. 

A mother’s love is an attachment that every human experiences in the womb regardless of what happens after birth. When a child enters this world, the bond they share with their mother has already began. But, sometimes that bond is broken and there is a void that is needed to be filled. Delphine had a relationship with her mother as a small child, unlike her sisters Vonetta and Fern. To Vonetta and Fern, their father Pa, grandmother Big Ma, and Delphine all formed into the mother figure the girls were lacking. 

Throughout this novel, Delphine defines a mother as a, “statement of fact” (Williams-Garcia, 14). This statement means that Cecile Johnson gave birth to her three daughters so that makes her a mother, but every mammal has a mother regardless of if they are present or not. A mom is a caretaker, someone who cares and loves for their child and Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern can not completely fill this void with Pa and Big Ma. 

Upon arriving in Oakland, Cecile wants absolutely nothing to do with her daughters. “I didn’t send for you. Didn’t want you in the first place. Should have gone to Mexico to get rid of you when I had the chance” (Williams-Garcia, 27). This quote shows the detachment Cecile has from her daughters. She lacks all motherly instincts. Delphine is left, once again, being the mother figure to her sisters. The book is written in first-person from Delphine’s point of view, so the reader can see the difficulty she faces with trying to balance being eleven and mother two sisters. No child at eleven should be faced with realities like these. 

Delphine finally breaks towards the end of the book and lets go of all of her bottled up anger that was filling her void. “I’m only eleven years old, and I do everything. I have to because you’re not there to do it. I’m only eleven years old, but I do the best that I can. I don’t just up and leave” (William-Garcia, 206). Saying this to her mom, Delphine feels a release of built up angst towards her mother. By doing this Delphine filled the void that she felt by not having her mother around her when growing up. This book shows the determination the sisters have for getting the one thing they have all wanted, a hug from their mother. It may not be the perfect mother-daughter relationship they always dream about, but they received the contact they needed to be okay with their visit. 

Ellie Begg ( Blog Post #13, One Crazy Summer, 25 April 2017)

Williams-Garcia, R. (2012). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of Harper Collins.

[childrensliteratureworld-blog]

Blog Post 13

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia

This historical fiction novel has the reader intrigued from the start. Three young girls have spent their whole lives living with their father, who one summer decided to send the girls to California to live with their mostly out-of-the-picture mother. The girls don’t know what to expect when they go to stay with her and when they meet, all of their grandmother's’ warnings proved to be true. Their mother seems to be very preoccupied with her poetry that she writes under a pseudonym to protect her identity. The girls spend the majority of the summer at Black Panther camp, where they are taught what it means to stand up for your rights, learn about the injustice happening around them and appreciate all of the work that the Black Panthers are doing for their race.

The theme I want to analyze and focus on is all of the characters names. From the time when the girls meet their mother up until the end of the summer, their mom never calls the youngest sister by her name. Their grandmother had told the girls that the reason, or one of the reasons, their mom left was because she wasn’t allowed to chose her youngest daughters name. Fern was supposed to be named Afua which is an African name.

Name meanings in the book:

Afua (Fern)- Born on Friday: African

Delphine- Dolphin: French and Greek cities/significance

Vonetta- A woman full of intelligence and grace

Cecile- Blind/Dim: Latin/English

Nzila- The Path: Yoruba

As you can see, some of the names in the book hold significance/meaning and others don’t. But the power of names in this book is so strong. Cecile is able to write and express herself through poetry under a different name, a name that she identifies with, a name that she is recognized by even though it is not her given name.

Delphine expresses throughout the book that names are how you identify yourself. I thought that this was really interesting. My name has a story attached to it, but I do not identify who I am as a person because of my name. My mother chose the name Ana when she was watching the news with only two months left in her pregnancy because of a recent story of a little girl who had recently been kidnapped and murdered with the same name. The news story resonated with my mom and my name was decided. But I would never say that my name is how I identify myself, aside from identifying my presence in class when I hear my name and call back, “Here!”.

The National Bureau of Economic Research conducted a study regarding “Black” and “White” sounding names and the likelihood of receiving a call back from a potential employer. The results found that the white names had a significant difference, as did the address listed on the resume; those from wealthier neighborhoods received more calls back.

Your name matters. They matter culturally and socially. Names seem to tell a lot about a person in One Crazy Summer but in society, we must release any preconceived ideas we have about anyone based simply off of their name.

Does Delphine's family place such high priority on their names because they know how society views them simply based off of their names?

By Ana Kugler

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The Power of Names

One Crazy Summer written by Rita Williams-Garcia and published in 2011, is about three sisters, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern, who spend the summer visiting the mother who abandoned them. The girls spend most of their summer days at a community center, learning about the Black Panthers. The mother, Cecile, left her three daughters when their youngest was just a baby because the father would not let her name Fern. Right away, readers learn that names are very important to Cecile. When Delphine learns that Cecile goes by a different name, Nzila, she doesn’t understand. Delphine refuses to call Cecile anything other than her name because she believes that names are how people identify themselves. This leads to introspection on her own name and shows readers just how hurt Delphine feels from not getting a beautiful, poetic name from a mother who gave her nothing else. This anger gives readers an insight into just how hurt Delphine still feels over how her mother left her, and how her mother treats her now, many years later. "I didn't care what Cecile called her new self or how much dust she blew off paths with her poems. She was Cecile Johnson to me, and I didn't appreciate her so-called new self or her new name. A name is important. It isn't something you drop in the litter basket or on the ground. Your name is how people know you. The very mention of your name makes a picture spring to mind, whether it's a pure of clashing fists or a mighty mountain that can't be knocked down. Your name is who you are and how you're known even when you do something great or something dumb." Delphine's opinion on the importance of names reminded me of a big issue in schools today. It is very common for students with non-white names to be given a white name from their teacher. This happens most often to students from Asian countries because many Asian languages have different pronunciations that what Americans are used to. However, instead of working to learn their students’ names, teachers often re-name their students. Surprisingly, this even happens in the University of Iowa. I have two coworkers with Asian names who were re-named by their professors. They both introduce themselves with their American names because they have learned that many Americans won’t go through the trouble to learn their names. Just like with Delphine, many people feel a connection to their name and identify themselves with it. To take away a person’s name is the same as disregarding their identity. As teachers, we need to take a few minutes with our students and insist that we learn their real name and pronunciation. Doing this will open doors to connecting with our students, especially minority students. Williams-Garcia, R. (2011). One Crazy Summer. New York, NY: HarperCollinsPublisher. Macy Visser (Blog Post # 13.1, The Power of Names, 30 April 2017)

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Taking Count

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is a story of three young girls who take a trip to California in the summer of 1968 to visit their mother who had abandoned them years before. When they arrive, they find that their mother is less than thrilled to see them. Delphine, the oldest sister, has always had to watch over her two younger sisters, and there is no exception for this even when they are with their mother. In their four week stay with their mother, they learn to become independent and take it upon themselves to explore California. They attend a summer camp run by the Blank Panthers and learn about the racial inequality that is circling the nation. In the end, they are met with a highly anticipated hug from their mother as they leave to return home. 

One particular passage that I thought particularly highlighted the racial themes in this book is found on page 5. The children arrive at the airport and Delphine begins to count the number of black people in the waiting area: 

                  “Big Ma had grabbed them by the first scruff of fabric she could get ahold of, bent down, and told them to ‘act right.’ There weren’t too many of ‘us’ in the waiting area, and too many of ‘them’ were staring. 

                  I’d taken a quick count out of habit. Vonetta, Fern, and I were the only Negro children.”

I believe that this passage points out the effects of racial inequality in the United States. Delphine is conditioned to feel uncomfortable and isolated because of their race and the way they are treated for being different, so they habitually count the number of people in the room that look like them. Continually feeling like there aren’t very many people in the room she can relate to, she attempts to gauge how many people she can connect with. I don’t believe Delphine was making a conscious effort to do this necessarily however. She was just taking note of her surroundings, but the passage is meant to show how a racial divide can affect even the smallest of things in life, like feeling comfortable in your environment. 

Abby Hudson (One Crazy Summer, April 30th, Blog Post #13.8)

Works Cited: 

Picture:

Retrieved May 01, 2017, from https://www.amazon.com/One-Crazy-Summer-Rita-Williams-Garcia/dp/0060760907

Book:

Williams-Garcia, R. (2012). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins.

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The Apple That Fell Far From The Tree

     The book One Crazy Summer (2010) by Rita Williams-Garcia, follows three sisters who are visiting their estranged mother over the summer in 1968. The three sisters must stick together and support each other through their mother’s disproval of their visit. Over the summer the girls struggle with their relationship with their mother but try to mend it by supporting her at the Black Panther Rally which their mother is a member of. In the end the girls’ relationship with their mother is still rough but it took a step in the right direction. Many difficult subjects are brought up in this book: racism, civil rights, family, and abandonment. 

     Each character of the book has a very distinct personality. Cecile, or Nzilla as she calls herself, is the birth mother of Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern. Delphine is the eldest sister, age 11, and she has the most memories of their mother Cecile. Cecile and Delphine have extremely different personalities and often have polarizing values. Cecile abandoned her three daughters and husband when the girls were very young. Delphine has the strongest feelings of anger toward Cecile.      Delphine is portrayed as caring, kind, strong, and a fierce protector of her sisters. Cecile is portrayed as independent, selfish, and is not maternal whatsoever. When the girl’s first arrive Cecile is clearly annoyed with their presence and says:      “I didn’t send for you. Didn’t want you in the first place. Should have gone to Mexico to get rid of you when I had the chance.” (Page 26)      When Cecile says this it strikingly shows how much she did not want to be a mother. It’s hard for the three girls and it’s cruel. This sharp-tongued moment is one of many times where Cecile is unnecessarily cruel to her children. While she may be their birth mother she isn’t their mom. Delphine comes to the same conclusion when discussing with her sisters on what to call Cecile. She states:      "Mommy gets up to give you a glass of water in the middle of the night. Mom invited your friends inside when it's raining. Mama burns your ears with a hot comb to make your hair look pretty for class picture day. Ma is sore and worn out from wringing your wet clothes and hanging them to dry; Ma needs peace and quiet at the end of the day. We don't have one of those. We have a statement of fact." (Page 14)      Delphine have very few positive feelings about Cecile and doesn’t think of her as her “mom” simply her birth mother who she will address as Cecile. While she does show Cecile some signs of respect, as she has been raised to respect adults, she does stand up to Cecile several times. As Delphine is a fierce protector of her sisters and has taken upon herself to fill the “mother” role she knows that eating takeout every day is not healthy. As her sister’s stomachs start to hurt from all of the unhealthy food Delphine makes the bold decision to defy Cecile’s “No kitchen” rule. At the end of the meal a confrontation between the two is quite revealing. Cecile starts with:      ‘“And don’t expect no help from me.’      I said, ‘I don’t mind.’      She gave another ‘Hmp’ and a headshake. ‘We’re trying to break yokes.              You’re trying to make one for yourself.”’ (page 110)    Cecile views Delphine’s act of kindness for her sisters weak and taking steps away from the progression Cecile is trying to make. Delphine views her act as something she needs to do her sisters as she looks out for them. Cecile doesn’t comprehend the act of doing something selfless for love. This moment greatly emphasizes Cecile’s and Delphine’s polarizing values as characters. Even though they are mother and daughter they could not be more different from each other.

Williams-Garcia, R. (2010). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins

Macy Simmer 30, April, 2017 ( Blog Post # 13.6)

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One final goodbye? Or maybe not.

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is a compelling novel that tells the story of three sisters, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern in the late 60s. These sisters go on a trip to Oakland to meet their long lost mother and not everything goes as planned. The sisters find both themselves and their mother in their crazy summer.

There were many passages that stuck out to me while I was reading this book but none stuck to me as hard as the very last page. On page 215 in the very last paragraph: “We weren’t about to leave Oakland without getting what we’d come for. It only took Fern to know we needed a hug from our mother.” This passage stuck with me because the girls had had a very tumultuous relationship with their mother and I found their growth incredibly moving. The girls went from a sort of hatred towards their mother to a love or need to be with her. This passage left me with a lot of questions. I kept wondering if the girls would ever see their mother again. Did the hug mean more than just a hug?

This passage confused me more than anything. I was confused because I didn’t know how they went from mutual distaste to love but then I remembered that they are kids. One of the only things they really needed/wanted was their mom growing up. This last passage is everything they could have asked for. The mother finally called Fern by her name and Fern realized what they all needed: a hug.

A hug can symbolize a lot of things. It can symbolize love, friendship, apologies, hello, goodbye and much more. This hug conveyed more than just love, I think it conveyed I’m sorry and a goodbye to the girls. I’m not sure if the girls will ever see their mother again but I do know that they finally have their answer and that was that their mother did love them.

This book made my heart hurt for the girls but the ending helped to satisfy my need to have the girls understand that their mother leaving was not their fault. The girls needed this summer so that they can move on with fewer questions on their hearts.

One Crazy Summer [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/one-crazy-summer-rita-williams-garcia/1100247530 Williams-Garcia, R. (2012). One Crazy Summer. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins.

Kelsey Boone (“Blog Post #13.7: One Crazy Summer”) 30 April 2017

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What Our History Books Left Out

     One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is an excellent work of art that should be read and celebrated by all ages. Three sisters, Delphine, Fern, and Vonetta, spend a summer with their mother who abandoned them so long ago. Their mother was not the warm, fuzzy type and sent them to a Black Panther Camp each day in the summer. To their surprise, this camp was much different from the stereotypes they had heard before about the Black Panther movement. They learned a lot at camp and discovered a community full of  love and intelligence. When their mother gets arrested for her poems, the girls understand truly how much the Black Panther movement means to her, and proudly recite one of her poems just in time for Cecile, the mother, to get out of jail and watch. Cecile ends up growing fond of the girls by the end and the girls no longer feel so lost and alone.

    In my experience in my elementary school years, the only portrayal of the Black Panther movement was that in a negative and very violent light. We were taught that the two black rights movements were a strict binary, Martin Luther King Jr. being peaceful, and Malcolm X being reckless and aggressive. Many of my other colleagues agree that their education on this matter was very similar. After reading this book, my eyes were opened to the lies that we had been taught, and continue to teach our children about on a multitude of historical subjects. This book was a beautiful representation of the Black Panther movement in all of its aspects, both violent and nonviolent. It encourages the reader to dive deeper into such complex historical events like that of the 1960s Black Rights movement.  “It wasn't at all the way the television showed militants—that's what they called the Black Panthers. Militants, who from the newspapers were angry fist wavers with their mouths wide-open and their rifles ready for shooting. They never showed anyone like Sister Mukumbu or Sister Pat, passing out toast and teaching in classrooms,” Delphine proclaims when she realizes things aren’t always as they are portrayed by others.     Identity is a major theme throughout the book, and the importance of names is brought up a lot. We have found in many of our novels this semester that the significance names can hold for an individual must be treated with respect and authenticity. Not only are names important, but the discovery of oneself is monumental in an individual's life,  and the reader sees that with Delphine as she begins to let go of her “job” as ma, and learn how to be a kid while she can. This is so important as a teacher because our students will all come from different backgrounds and be in different stages in their own pursuit of identity. It would be an excellent book to add to the curriculum either as a read aloud for younger grades or an assigned reading for upper elementary. Novels like this should be a necessary requirement of schools in order to give light and respect to all aspects of our nation's history, and open the conversation to the current issues we face in our society, today.

Melissa Mikos (Blog Post #13.4 26 April 2017) 

Williams-Garcia, R. (2012). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins. 

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Too Much Responsibility for Age 11

Responsibility is difficult to maintain and it is even harder to hold responsibility over other people. One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia tells the story of three sisters travelling to Oakland, California to spend the summer with their estranged mother, Cecile. While in California, the girls experience Black Panther camps, travel to San Francisco by themselves, and wait for their mother to finally accept, love, and give them a hug since being there.

Williams-Garcia keeps Delphine, main character and oldest daughter at age eleven, very independent and mother-like aside from the fact that she is only eleven years old. From the very beginning, Williams-Garcia gives Delphine the characteristics of being the caretaker, mother figure, and supervisor of her younger sisters all while her father is busy working and their grandmother consuming the grandmother role rather than mother. In the beginning, we learn that Delphine’s character is in charge all of the time, especially when they were leaving the airport: “Papa had kissed Vonetta and Fern and told me to look after my sisters. Even though looking after them would have been nothing new, I kissed him and said, I will, Papa” (Williams-Garcia 6-7). This exchange speaks volumes. Papa kisses the two younger sisters farewell but lectures Delphine and waits for her to kiss him. Instantly we know Pa is a protective father but he also assumes Delphine to be lead mother figure because she is the oldest. There is a small tinge of frustration in Delphine’s attitude, as she says “would have been nothing new.” Williams-Garcia keeps up with this “nothing new” attitude throughout the book as Delphine protects her sisters in California, timing herself in the bathtub so the younger ones do not start to fight, sensors and anticipates what is said by Vonetta and Fern, and keeps them occupied with activities like reading books and going to the community center. It is sad to see an eleven-year-old girl consuming a very mature role because she is a kid that needs to be a kid. It is frustrating reading the book because we see the maternal instincts of Delphine come out while Cecile wants nothing to do with the three girls or being a mother. On the up side of this book, readers are able to witness and learn the independence and responsibilities Delphine has and can relate those to the responsibilities they may have in their own life.

Best, Kathryn Ruff

(Blog Post #13 – One Crazy Summer)

April 25, 2017

Williams-Garcia, R. (2012). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins.

[childrensliteratureworld-blog]

An Unforgettable Summer 

Delphine and her two sisters, Fern and Vonetta, take the trip of a lifetime to Oakland, California to visit their estranged mother. The trip is far from what was expected, but proves to be an unforgettable summer for the girls. 

Because this story takes place during the 1960′s, the girls face many social and political conflicts throughout their trip. The girls spend a great amount of their time with the Black Panthers, a black power social movement which teaches them the importance of embracing one’s race. Between the Black Panthers and their politically charged mother, Cecile, the girls learn a lot about welcoming their black culture. 

On page 53, the girls are shocked to learn that Cecile does not own any hair styling tools. Instead, she embraces her natural hair, for it is a representation of her nationality and culture. Cecile says, “Naughty? Your hair ain’t naughty. It ain’t misbehaving. It’s doing what God meant it to do.” (Williams- Garcia 53). This quote exemplifies the way that black power supporters embrace their natural skin color, hair, and other features. By welcoming natural hair, Cecile is showing that she is not ashamed of her black culture and God intended for her hair to be the way that it is. She states that their natural, voluptuous hair is not wrong or misbehaving, it is simply meant to be that way. Cecile believes that God intended for their hair to be natural and free, so they should not spend hours heating, styling, and changing their hair. This quote impacts the girls greatly, for they have always been urged to tame their hair by Big Ma. At this point in the story, we see a switch in the young girls’ way of thinking. They are now beginning to fully embrace and love their black culture. 

Gianna Hansen. (One Crazy Summer: Blog Post #13.8) 25 April 2017

Williams-Garcia, R. (2012). One crazy summer. New York, NY: Amistad. Harper Collins.

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P.S. Be Eleven

Rita Williams-Garcia

In this Coretta Scott King Award-winning novel and sequel to the New York Times bestseller and Newbery Honor Book One Crazy Summer, the Gaither sisters return to Brooklyn and find that changes large and small have come to their home. This extraordinary novel earned five starred reviews, with Publishers Weekly calling it "historical fiction that's as full of heart as it is of heartbreak" and The Horn Book considering it "funny, wise, poignant, and thought-provoking."

After spending the summer in Oakland, California, with their mother and the Black Panthers, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern arrive home with a newfound streak of independence. The sisters aren't the only ones who have changed. Now Pa has a girlfriend. Uncle Darnell returns from Vietnam a different man. But Big Ma still expects Delphine to keep her sisters in line. That's much harder now that Vonetta and Fern refuse to be bossed around. Besides her sisters, Delphine's got plenty of other things to worry about—like starting sixth grade, being the tallest girl in her class, and dreading the upcoming school dance. The one person she confides in is her mother, Cecile. Through letters, Delphine pours her heart out and receives some constant advice: to be eleven while she can.

This extraordinary novel will find a home in the hearts of readers who loved Brown Girl Dreaming and *As Brave as You. *

Supports the Common Core State Standards