One Crazy Summer (Rita Williams-Garcia)

Garcia, Rita. One crazy summer. New York: Amistad, 2010.

Summary
The adventure filled summer of 1968 begins with Delphine and her sisters flying out to Oakland to reunite with their estranged mother whom had abandoned them seven years earlier. However, soon after their arrival, Delphine is quick to realize that her “crazy” mother is not happy about their arrival. Delphine must feed and care for her younger sisters and end up spending their days at a children’s camp put on by the Black Panthers. Against the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the girls discover what it means to make revolutionary change and in the process come to know their mother.

Critical Analysis
     One Crazy Summer is rooted in the strong, relatable characters. Delphine is the oldest sister and a natural caregiver. Vonetta, the middle child, is attention seeking and needy. The youngest sister, Fern is both insecure and wildly insightful. The aloof and eccentric mother Cecile is cold towards her daughters. As the story progresses, however, both Delphine and the reader will come to understand and accept her mother.
    Williams-Garcia weaves a compelling story of children just looking to survive the summer with a mother who wishes she had “gone to Mexico to get rid of [them] when [she] had the chance” (26). Delphine and the girls leave their mother alone to create poetry while they are taken in by the Youth Center run by the Black Panthers. The racial tensions affect every aspect of the girls’ life that summer as is shown vividly when the their mother is arrested with two Black Panther members.  Delphine grows into herself as she is able to acknowledge her own history, both as an African American and as a girl who will never have the mother she dreams of. These emotions are expressed when together the three sisters recite a poem written by their mother, “Black oceans separate us, tortured cries... hear the reverberation, of a stolen black nation, forever lost.”  Williams-Garcia has written a gripping story that takes place in a time period that allows the reader to understand how children can positively impact history by working towards social justice and equality.

Awards and Review Excerpts
ALA Notable Book
Booklist Editor’s Choice
National Book Award Finalist
Newbery Honor Book
Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction
Booklist- “this vibrant novel shows the subtle ways that political movements affect personal lives”
Publisher’s Weekly- “poetic language that will stimulate and move readers”
School Library Journal- “With memorable characters... and a powerful story, this is a book well worth reading and rereading.”

Connections
Reference famous African Americans as you read the book.
Altman, Susan. Extraordinary African-Americans. New York: Children's Press, 2001. ISBN 0516259628

Read nonfiction accounts of the civil rights movement from the viewpoint of children involved.
McWhorter, Diane. A dream of freedom : the civil rights movement from 1954 to 1968. New York: Scholastic, 2004. ISBN 0439576784

Read poetry by renowned African American Poets.
Angelou, Maya. Maya Angelou. New York: Sterling, 2007.ISBN 1402720238
Brooks, Gwendolyn. Bronzeville boys and girls. New York: Amistad/HarperCollinsPublishers, 2007. ISBN 0060295058
Hughes, Langston. Langston Hughes. New York: Sterling Pub, 2006. ISBN 1402718454

The Midwife's Apprentice (Karen Cushman)

Cushman, Karen. The midwife's apprentice. New York: Harper Trophy, 1996.

Summary
    Imagine being homeless, friendless, and nameless. This is the reality for one starving girl in medieval England. Readers will follow her on a journey of self-discovery as she decides to not just live, but live with purpose. Readers will cheer her on as she learns to believe in herself through her adventures as the mid-wife’s apprentice.

Critical Analysis
    With nowhere to go and nowhere to hide the main character is a desolate young girl that immediately brings forth compassion from the reader.  The book unfolds to allow the young girl, dubbed Alyce, to be appreciated for her sharp wit and adventuresome spirit. Readers will find themselves laughing when they discover Alyce fooled the townspeople into believing the devil has walked through town in an effort to get revenge on those who taunt her. The plot is most appropriate for older children and young adults who will be able to follow the plot as Alyce works to become a midwife’s apprentice, flounders at her first big failure, and comes to discover who she is and what she wants from life.
    Coming of age is a common theme, but Cushman has carefully woven Alyce’s story into an intricately constructed setting that sets this book apart. Cushman’s humorous and candid descriptions of the life of a poor young girl will enthrall readers. Rhythmic, old world English will make the story an entertaining read aloud and lesson in the attitudes and beliefs of medieval England. Young adults will want to learn more when they hear about Alyce learning to use cobwebs to stop bleeding and fat to make soap. Cushman’s author notes at the story’s conclusion help readers understand the role of a midwife, both today and in yesteryear.

Awards and Review Excerpts
Newbery Honor Book
Booklist Starred Review- “Cushman writes with a sharp simplicity and a pulsing beat.”
Kirkus Reviews- “simple, poetic, and funny”
Publisher’s Weekly- “supremely colorful and pungent”
School Library Journal- “With simplicity, wit, and humor, Cushman presents another tale of medieval England.”

Connections
Recommend these titles to readers who want to read similar stories by Cushman.
Cushman, Karen. Alchemy and Meggy Swann. New York: Sandpiper, 2010.
Cushman, Karen. Catherine, called Birdy. New York: Clarion Books, 1994.

The Wednesday Wars (Historical Fiction)

Schmidt, Gary. The Wednesday Wars. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009.

Summary
The Wednesday Wars is the story of a seventh grade boy with the distinguishing factor of being the only Presbyterian in class. This may seem to be a minor setback in his predominately Catholic and Jewish community, but being Presbyterian means a whole lot more. He is the only student left out of religious training on Wednesday afternoons and the only student stuck in Mrs. Baker’s classroom. Holling is sure Mrs. Baker is determined to ruin his life as he cleans rat cages and reads Shakespeare. Readers will be engrossed by this humorous story of a boy who happens upon a journey of self discovery amongst the turmoil of the Vietnam War and the civil rights movement.

Critical Analysis
    Holling Hoodhood is a relatable and likable lead character. He wins his audience over immediately with his honest, hilarious, and age appropriate descriptions of his town, life, and teacher. His loyal friends and inattentive parents could be from any era, yet fit seamlessly into the 1970s. Holling’s teacher, Mrs. Barker, who serves as both his sworn enemy and eventual ally is sometimes too ideal. Despite this fact, readers will come to admire and enjoy her very human qualities, such as her worry for her own husband fighting in Vietnam and her constant eye rolling and exasperation at the students.
    Accurate descriptions of Walter Cronkite’s reports on Vietnam dominating the family’s television, cream puffs being sold for under a quarter, the assassinations of Bobby Kennedy and Martin Luther King, and “modern” architectural designs mesh together to create the background for Holling’s journey. The time period is paramount to many of the story lines, such as his sister’s efforts to become a “flower child”, but is not the focus of the book. Instead, Gary Schmidt accurately depicts this tumultuous time period from the perspective of a boy who remembers little else. Even young adult readers who know next to nothing of the 1970s will be captivated by Schmidt’s depiction of a boy striving to keep friends, please his parents, and have fun. The classic themes of first love despite enemy families, inner-family conflict, and coming of age make this book a success.

Awards and Review Excerpts
ALA Notable Book
Newbery Honor Book
Booklist Starred Review- “gentle, hopeful, moving story of a boy”
Publisher’s Weekly- “serious issues are leavened with ample humor, and the supporting cast...is fully dimensional,”
School Library Journal- “laugh-out-loud moments that leaven the many poignant ones”
The New York Times- “The Wednesday Wars was one of my favorite books of the year”

Connections
Encourage readers to find out more about supporting characters in The Wednesday Wars.  
     Schmidt, Gary. Okay for now. New York: Clarion Books, 2011.

Suggest these titles to readers who enjoyed Schmidt’s style of writing.
     Schmidt, Gary. Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster boy. New York: Laurel-Leaf Books, 2008.
     Schmidt, Gary. Trouble. Boston: Graphia, 2010.

Learn how the war in Vietnam changed lives through these memoirs and informational texts.
     Caputo, Philip. 10,000 days of thunder : a history of the Vietnam War. New York: Atheneum  
          Books for Young Readers, 2005.
     Murray, Stuart. Vietnam War. New York: DK Pub, 2005.
     Warren, Andrea. Escape from Saigon : how a Vietnam War orphan became an American boy. New
          York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008.

Help students understand the Vietnam War these fictional texts:
     A picture book to open discussion on the lasting impact of war, particularly the Vietnam War.
     Bunting, Eve. The wall. New York: Clarion Books, 1990.
    
     A novel following the experience of a trained combat dog and young solider in the Vietnam War.
     Kadohata, Cynthia. Cracker!: the best dog in Vietnam. New York: Atheneum Books for Young      
          Readers, 2007.

A novel in verse describing an American soldier's experiences in the Vietnam War.
     Myers, Walter. Patrol: an American soldier in Vietnam. New York: Harper Trophy, 2005.

Let Me Play (Informational Books)

Blumenthal, Karen. Let me play : the story of Title IX : the law that changed the future of girls in America. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers,     2005.

Summary
    Today, no one batts an eye when a young girl says her dream is to win a gold medal in the Olympics or go to college on a softball scholarship. This was not always the case. It took years of hard work by strong women to lay forth a law in the 1970s that would change how America viewed equality, gender, and athletics.  Nonfiction author Karen Blumenthal takes readers on a fascinating exploration of how Title IX came about and impacted the lives of girls and young women in the United States in her book, Let Me Play: The story for Title IX: the law that changed the future of girls in America.

Critical Review
    Blumenthal surveys the incredible endeavor of many individuals in their work to achieve gender equality in school sport’s programs across America in Let Me Play. In the book, she skillfully combines primary and secondary resources to create a seamless story of the groundbreaking legislation Title IX. Events are chronologically laid out and divided into chapters that correspond to major happenings in the creation and implementation of Title IX. The source notes and index are logically organized and provide readers with easy access to information from within the book.
    Let Me Play is visually appealing and engaging to read with its straightforward language, combined with photographs, graphs, quotes, and cartoons. Short stories, such as the “player profiles” cover women athletes and “instant replays” tell real life anecdotes and serve to strategically break up large chunks of text and make history appear to come alive. The text demonstrates a flair for factual storytelling that challenges readers of all ages to understand history as it really was and it defines the future.

Awards and Review Excerpts
2003 Robert F. Silbert Informational Honor Book
ALA Notable Children’s Book
Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2002
Booklist- “Few books cover the last few decades of American women's history with such clarity and detail”
School Library Journal- “A fascinating look at the birth, growth, stagnation, and final emergence of Title IX.”
The Horn Book- “richly layered presentation”

Connections
Read stories of inspiring women in sports:
    Krull, Kathleen. Wilma unlimited : how Wilma Rudolph became the world's fastest woman. San Diego: Harcourt, Inc, 2000.
    Macy, Sue and Jane Gottesman. Play like a girl : a celebration of women in sports. New York: Henry Holt, 1999.

Learn more about the history of womens sports:
    Macy, Sue. Basketball belles : how two teams and one scrappy player put women's hoops on the map. New York: Holiday House, 2011.
    Stout, Glenn. Yes she can! : women's sports pioneers. Boston: Sandpiper, 2011.

Give students an opportunity to read one of these novels as they look for connections:
    Curtis, Christopher. The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963:a novel. New York: Dell Laurel Leaf, 2000.
    Murdock, Catherine. The off season. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
    Park, Linda. Keeping score. Boston: Sandpiper, 2010.

Our Eleanor (Informational Books)

Fleming, Candace. Our Eleanor : a scrapbook look at Eleanor Roosevelt's remarkable life. New York: Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2005.

Plot Summary
    Eleanor Roosevelt was more than a first lady. She was was a revolutionary thinker that managed to permanently impact America’s view of social justice. Our Eleanor begins with a look at Eleanor’s family tree and difficult upbringing and progresses to her complicated roles as mother, wife, and friend. Other portions of the biography work to contrast this very human view of Eleanor by reflecting on her remarkable ability to connect with the poor and disadvantaged members of society and her confidence in fighting for their rights. Flemings utilizes quotes, diary entries, articles, images, and short anecdotes to gain glimpses into Eleanor’s mind and heart.
  
Critical Analysis

    Our Eleanor: a scrapbook look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s remarkable life is a comprehensive look at Eleanor Roosevelt’s influential existence. The biography covers events from Eleanor’s birth to her death in areas of both private matters and social endeavors. Fleming delves into where Eleanor came from, how she evolved, and how she continues to impact society.
    The book takes an honest and intimate approach by viewing Eleanor as a strong and yet flawed character. Quotes from Eleanor give intimate glimpses into her personal life, such as when Eleanor explains, “It did not come naturally to me to understand little children or enjoy them” (32).  Fleming guides the reader through a scrapbook style look at Eleanor’s life that incorporates narrative, lists, photographs, and documents that serve to create active engagement with the text. Graphics support and add interest to text, such as black and white print of a National Youth Administration poster that demonstrated one of Eleanor’s programs (93) or photos of Eleanor baking in her cottage after leaving the white house (130).
    The book fails to follow the traditional chronological path of most biographies but instead focuses on snapshots and topics within Eleanor’s life. As Fleming best states, the book will guide readers and “like a jigsaw puzzle, the many pieces of her life will slowly fit together to form the picture of an extraordinary woman” (ix). Readers will be forced to critically analyze Eleanor as they realize that even heros and heroines are flawed but still worthy of emulation.  This biography has a unique style allows it to be viewed in bits and pieces while engrossing its readers and encouraging further reading.

Awards and Review Excerpts
ALA Best Books For Young Adults 1997
Notable Children’s Books 1997
Publishers Weekly Starred Reviews
Booklist- “a broad audience, including many adults, will be intrigued by the volume's photo-album immediacy”
Kirkus Reviews- “an incredibly well-organized and thorough scrapbook”
Publishers Weekly- “Fleming allows readers to draw their own conclusions; they will come away with an understanding of a woman who shaped her times and left a lasting imprint on the future.”
School Library Journal- “Enjoyably educational”

Connections

Young Adults can discover other influential and/or inspirational women by reading these biographies.
Cooper, Ilene. Oprah Winfrey : a twentieth-century life. New York: Puffin Books, 2008.
Fleming, Candace. Amelia lost : the life and disappearance of Amelia Earhart. New York: Schwartz & Wade Books, 2011.
Fradin, Judith. The power of one : Daisy Bates and the Little Rock Nine. New York: Clarion Books, 2004.
Hamilton, Bethany. Soul surfer : a true story of faith, family, and fighting to get back on the board. New York: Pocket Books MTV Books, 2006.
Jackson, Livia. I have lived a thousand years : growing up in the Holocaust. New York, N.Y: Aladdin Paperbacks, 1999.
Nichols, Joan. Mary Shelley, Frankenstein's creator : first science fiction writer. Berkeley, CA Emeryville, Calif: Conari Press Group West distributor, 1998.

Follow up Our Eleanor with these reads on Eleanor Roosevelt aimed at younger audiences.
Adler, David. A picture book of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York: Holiday House, 1991.  
Cooney, Barbara. Eleanor. New York: Scholastic, Inc, 1999.
Times for Kids. Eleanor Roosevelt : first lady of the world. New York: Harper Collins Publishers,  2006.

They Called Themselves the K.K.K. (Informational Books)

Bartoletti, Susan. They called themselves the K.K.K. : the birth of an American terrorist group. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010.

Summary
    Bartoletti weaves the tale of the war strewn south after the American Civil War and the beginnings of the well known terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan, during the period of reconstruction. Sequential chapters allow young adults to grasp how society’s mindset and widespread prejudices allowed for a small group of men to grow into a widespread, highly secretive society of hate. The in-depth look into the group concludes with President Grant’s eventual crackdown on the Ku Klux Klan and its gradual retreat from mainstream society, but reminds the reader that hate groups still exist in United States to this day.

Critical Review
     They Called Themselves the K.K.K.: the birth of an American terrorist group is detailed and well researched presentation of the Ku Klux Klan. Young adult readers may find the grim subject matter is difficult to read with its intimidatingly crisp layout and honest portrayal of the treatment of African Americans in American society. The use of black and white pictures, documents, uncensored quotes, historical artist renderings, and satirical cartoons serve to break up dense passages of information and provide further insight into the life of freed slaves and the individuals who were part of the K.K.K..
    Bartoletti retells events concisely while providing readers with enough first hand anecdotes from freed men and women and Klan members to encourage critical thinking. For example, a quote from Susan Merrit, a freed woman, gives readers insight into a life where even her religion was encroached upon by former slave owners and members of the Ku Klux Klan. A time line at the end of the book provides readers with perspective and quote attributions and source notes serves the needs of individuals looking to do further research.
    Readers will find this book to be a somber, yet much needed glimpse into how unchecked prejudices led to shameful acts and the formation of a terrorist group.

Awards and Excerpts
ALA Notable Books
Booklist Editors Choice 2010
Horn Book Magazine Starred Review Titles
Kirkus Starred Review
Booklist- “amirably clear, accessible language”
Kirkus- “An exemplar of history writing”
School Library Journal- “compelling clarity, anecdotal detail, and insight”

Connections:
Use these book as read alouds on slavery and segregation:
    Hopkinson, Deborah. Sweet Clara and the freedom quilt. New York: A. Knopf, 1995.
    Levine, Ellen. Henry's freedom box. New York: Scholastic Press, 2007.
    Wiles, Deborah. Freedom Summer. New York: Aladdin Paperbacks, 2005.
    Woodson, Jacqueline. The other side. New York: Putnam's, 2001.

Learn about terrorist groups and actions that arise from hatred and/or fear:
    Bartoletti, Susan. Hitler Youth : growing up in Hitler's shadow. New York: Scholastic Nonfiction,  2005.
    Isaac, John. Rwanda : fierce clashes in Central Africa. Woodbridge, Conn: Blackbirch Press, 1997.
    Lange, Dorothea. Impounded : Dorothea Lange and the censored images of Japanese American internment. New York London: W.W. Norton, 2008.
    Meltzer, Milton. The day the sky fell : a history of terrorism. New York: Random House, 2002.
    Michelson, Maureen. Looking like the enemy : my story of imprisonment in Japanese-American internment camps. Troutdale, OR: NewSage Press, 2010.

Use one of these books as a conclusion to discussions on hate groups, hate crimes, and bullying.
    Fox, Mem. Whoever you are. Orlando: Voyager Books Harcourt, 2001.
    Seskin, Steve. Don't laugh at me. Berkeley: Tricycle Press, 2002.

Plan a cultural fair to celebrate unity within your school or classroom.