# One Crazy Summer

**Author:** Rita Williams-Garcia
**Lexile:** 750L
**Grade range:** Grades 5–8
**Age range:** 10–13
**First published:** 2010
**Page count:** 218
**Genre:** Historical Fiction
**ISBN-13:** `9780060760892`
**ISBN-10:** `0060760893`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/one-crazy-summer
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

In the summer of 1968, eleven-year-old Delphine and her two younger sisters travel from Brooklyn to Oakland to meet the mother who abandoned them — and find themselves swept into a Black Panther summer camp. Rita Williams-Garcia's Newbery Honor novel braids family, identity, and the civil-rights era. A common grades 5-8 text.

## Themes

- family
- race
- civil rights
- mother-daughter relationship

## Where this book is assigned

### Common Core State Standards (ELA)

- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: WeAreTeachers 2025 Summer Reading List — Middle Grades](https://www.weareteachers.com/summer-reading-list-for-kids/)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: WeAreTeachers 2025 Summer Reading List — Middle Grades](https://www.weareteachers.com/summer-reading-list-for-kids/)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: WeAreTeachers 2025 Summer Reading List — Middle Grades](https://www.weareteachers.com/summer-reading-list-for-kids/)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: WeAreTeachers 2025 Summer Reading List — Middle Grades](https://www.weareteachers.com/summer-reading-list-for-kids/)

### Coretta Scott King Author Award

- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2011 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2011 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2011 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)
- **recommended** · 8th grade — [source: Coretta Scott King Author Award winners (American Library Association), via Wikipedia — 2011 CSK Author Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King_Award)

### Great Lakes Great Books Award (Michigan Reading Association)

- **recommended** · 5th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)

### Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction

- **recommended** · 4th grade — [source: Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction winners, via Wikipedia — 2011 Scott O'Dell Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_O%27Dell_Award_for_Historical_Fiction)
- **recommended** · 5th grade — [source: Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction winners, via Wikipedia — 2011 Scott O'Dell Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_O%27Dell_Award_for_Historical_Fiction)
- **recommended** · 6th grade — [source: Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction winners, via Wikipedia — 2011 Scott O'Dell Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_O%27Dell_Award_for_Historical_Fiction)
- **recommended** · 7th grade — [source: Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction winners, via Wikipedia — 2011 Scott O'Dell Award](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_O%27Dell_Award_for_Historical_Fiction)

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