All the novels that I have read in class this year have been absolutely fascinating and remarkable. Each one captivated me in an indescribable way. However, there is a particular novel that stood out to me. It is a novel that is highly enjoyable and I recommend it to anyone looking for a poetic and simple book to read. That novel is One Crazy Summer by the distinguished author of books for children and teens, Rita Williams-Garcia.
One Crazy Summer deserves to be read more than once. The novel revolves around the tale of three young girls who are put on a plane from Brooklyn to Oakland, where they are to stay with the “mother” who abandoned them. The story takes place in 1968 when the American society is changing due to racism and Black Panthers carrying guns while roaming around and shouting about Black Power. But it's also a
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The combination of the 1968 Black Power movement with the heart-warming journey of the three sisters is phenomenal. The reason why this novel stood out to me is because of its two powerful themes. The first theme is perhaps the most touching and dominant of all other themes, for it is the theme of unity. The theme of unity is repeated multiple times throughout the novel. When the girls are sent to a Black Panther summer camp, they are mainly taught about uniting and fighting for freedom as one. Seeing that the story takes place in 1968 Oakland, unity had a different and more powerful meaning back then. Unity meant family. Another theme that stood out to me was the theme of memory and the past. Memories don't function the way real life does. They are muddled, fuzzy, and quite confusing at times. This is definitely Delphine's experience in One Crazy Summer. She has flashes of what her life was like before her mother left, but they aren’t really put together in a comprehensible picture. There are huge gaps in Delphine's memory of what happened back then, which makes it harder for her
One Fat Summer by Robert Lipsyte, is a very good book for teenagers that feel insecure about themselves and have low self-esteem. In the book they will read about a young boy name, Bobby who overcomes his fears of being fat and being bullied by Willie, one that is much stronger then him physically, but not emotionally. The basic theme of this story is to stand up for yourself no matter the situation.
In “One Crazy Summer” by Rita Williams-Garcia, the topic, African-American Civil Right Movement is taught to the readers by the setting. As the main character, Delphine and her sisters, Vonetta and Fern travel to Oakland, California in the 1960's. There they visit their mother and see the Black Panthers, a group who fought for black rights. Delphine and her sisters go to the center, run by the Black Panthers, daily. This new setting causes the girls become involved in their Civil Rights and the Black Panthers.
...lives. It gives readers the chance to emphasize with these women and their families. It let readers experience the trials and tribulations these women underwent firsthand. A nonfiction novel would not have had that impact and ability to draw readers that close.
It is the first time that Cassie realizes that white and black children are treated differently. It shows how black children are forced to feel inferior to white. children. They are all children. Another cause of racism is where the whites hate the Logan family for.
1) The major theme of the book is respectability. In the 1950 's Rosa Parks became the symbol for black female resistance in the
The story of Summer, by David Updike, is set during that idyllic time in life when responsibility is the last word on anyone's mind. And yet, as with all human affairs, responsibility is an ever-present and ever-necessary aspect to life. What happens when the protagonist, Homer, loses his awareness of a certain personal responsibility to maintain self-control? Homer's actions increasingly make him act foolishly, internally and externally. Also, how does Homer return to a sense of sanity and responsibility? To a degree, I would say that he does.
*All in all I would say that this novel is definitely a good read. I found my self at times relating my own thoughts and experiences to that of the characters in the book. This is the very reason I would recommend that you give your class next semester the option of reading either this book or another. From my point of view, I think that most men can not relate to certain situations that occur, which lessens the overall significance of her writing.
My recommendation for this book would be that this book is just a fun read, nothing to serious. But yet it's a book were its easy to relate to were a lot of the situations that happen in the book happen in young teenage life as well. Like for example the desperation to fit in. kids will do most likely anything to be part of "the cool group" hopefully not take some sort of pill that will talk to you in your head. But other things like being pressured into talking drugs. Sneaking out of the house to go to some party and not coming back until the next day at dawn without getting caught. These days we do so much and our parents know so little.
There I was in the middle of it. I was in the middle of a miniature yet very powerful fight between Vonetta and Fern. I am usually the person that stops the fighting between them however this time I decided not to. I sat there quietly between the fight and their screaming. This time I was not going to break up the fight. This time Cecile was going to break up this fight motherly. After a very short while of Vonetta and Fern’s fighting she came in angry. She wasn’t just angry she was enraged. “Delphine, why didn’t you stop them!” I stood their paralyzed with no answer trying to leave my throat. “Answer me!” Cecile screeched enraged. Yet again I stood there with no answer. I didn’t know what to do. However, this is what Cecile decided to do. She grabbed Vonetta and Fern and separated them like a mother would do except she did more harshly. Then she glared at me while separating them for a second, shook her head, and I knew at that moment, trouble tornado alley was coming my way like a bulldog.
This movie is a wonderful production starting from 1960 and ending in 1969 covering all the different things that occurred during this unbelievable decade. The movie takes place in many different areas starring two main families; a very suburban, white family who were excepting of blacks, and a very positive black family trying to push black rights in Mississippi. The movie portrayed many historical events while also including the families and how the two were intertwined. These families were very different, yet so much alike, they both portrayed what to me the whole ‘message’ of the movie was. Although everyone was so different they all faced such drastic decisions and issues that affected everyone in so many different ways. It wasn’t like one person’s pain was easier to handle than another is that’s like saying Vietnam was harder on those men than on the men that stood for black rights or vice versa, everyone faced these equally hard issues. So it seemed everyone was very emotionally involved. In fact our whole country was very involved in president elections and campaigns against the war, it seemed everyone really cared.
A example of this is the trial, the death of grandma, and grandpa's outlook on the south: “Our way of life is precious. It's the way I live, the way my daddy lived, my granddaddy, and his daddy before him. It's going to be the way you live too, if I have anything to say about it” (Crowe, 11). Grandpa has a lot of emotions when it comes to the south. He heavily believes that Whites and African-Americans are not equal, that Whites are superior over African-Americans, and that the African-Americans are meant to be the workers. This is a racist view that goes back for generations in grandpa's family and he intends on continuing to raise his family this way, since grandpa believes there is nothing wrong with this way of life. This contributes to my feelings towards the book in many ways. I feel as if the book was a little too serious and grim for my liking. Some major conflicts in the book were Emmett Tills death and the trial. I felt that the book was well written in the sense that it covered the gruesomeness of the death very well. I think the major theme in this book is perspective, seeing things through new eyes. I think this because Hiram grew up listening to his grandfather and the ways of the south, and how his father did not agree. After the trial Hiram saw racism and the south the way his father
...ghout the whole book. These kids are the perfect instrument for getting her message across and demonstrate to the reader that if they can look past the skin color then adults can too and maybe they will see the similarities between whites and blacks. This book has been one of my favorites of my high school career because of the likeable characters and powerful message.
This report is on the book “The Haunting of Sunshine Girl” by Paige McKenzie. The story takes place in the small, rainy town of Ridgemont, Washington shortly after the protagonist, Sunshine Griffith’s, 16th birthday.
500 days of summer is a story where a boy meets a girl, he falls in love with her yet she does not truly love him. The movie shows the progression of the relationship of Tom and Summer. It begins when they first meet when Summer begins working as a secretary where Tom works and progresses to them casually dating. Summer is obviously hesitant and against relationships yet Tom is overly eager to find the perfect girl. The story ultimately shows the demise and after effects of their relationship. At first thought anyone could think this is the typical love story where the movie casually progresses to them living happily ever after. This is not that kind of fairy tale love story.
The book does a good job of directly and indirectly showing realness of all Americans lives. The whole book feels very real, probably because it’s an autobiography. One very real aspect of the book was the death of Beth. Many loved ones were lost to scarlet fever back then. That particular part of the book, along with being the most real, was the most touching. Despite her being a homebody and living a short life, she had a huge effect on everybody she knew. Another very real feature was the financial struggle of a family of five women and a father away at war at a time when women had no rights.