Gaither Sisters 01 One Crazy Summer

Ages 8 to 12, Grades 3 to 7

Rita Williams-Garcia’s Newbery Honor Book, Coretta Scott King Award winner, and New York Times bestseller One Crazy Summer tells the moving story of three sisters who travel to turbulent Oakland, California, in 1968 in search of the mother who abandoned them.

Eleven-year-old Delphine has it together. Even though her mother, Cecile, abandoned her and her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, seven years ago. And even though Delphine must look after her sisters during a summer trip to California to visit Cecile. When they arrive on the West Coast, their mother decides that they will attend a day camp run by the Black Panthers. Unexpectedly, the three sisters learn much about their family, their country, and themselves.

Acclaimed author Rita Williams-Garcia writes with insight and humor about family and identity in this brilliant, award-winning middle grade novel. This book won the Coretta Scott King Award and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and was a Newbery Honor Book and a National Book Award Finalist.

EXTRAS will include a portion of Rita Williams-Garcia's Coretta Scott King Award acceptance speech, a deleted chapter, and more!

About the Author

Rita Williams-Garcia is currently a faculty member at the Vermont College of Fine Arts in the Writing for Children and Young Adults Program. She has two adult daughters, Michelle and Stephanie, and lives in Jamaica, NY. You can visit her online and find a discussion guide for One Crazy Summer at www.ritawg.com.