Literary Devices in One Crazy Summer
Symbolism, Imagery, Allegory
Setting
We know you tune your grandpa out when he rambles on about how times were different in his day, but you should listen sometime. Things were really different back in the 1960s, especially when it co...
Narrator Point of View
One Crazy Summer is the Delphine show, through and through. Not only is she the main character, she's also the narrator, telling us about this wild experience as it happens (we know because she use...
Genre
This book might be fiction (read: made up), but the history isn't. When Delphine first sees a bunch of signs on the wall at the Center, she's not sure what they're about. They read: JUSTICE FOR ALL...
Tone
Part of why we like hanging out with Delphine is that she's always open with us (as readers) about how she feels. To the rest of the world? Not so much. Delphine often hides the truth from people a...
Writing Style
Seeing things directly from Delphine's point of view makes us feel like we're old friends. And how do we talk to our friends? In a lighthearted, conversational way of course—no formalities here....
What's Up With the Title?
When Delphine first arrives in Oakland, she tells us, "Cecile was no kind of mother. Cecile didn't want us. Cecile was crazy" (4.42). Well then. Right away, we think the title—One Crazy Summer—...
What's Up With the Ending?
If it's a fairy tale you're after, keep looking because Delphine doesn't get some perfect mom by the end of the book. In fact, she learns that her mom doesn't regret leaving the girls and moving to...
Tough-o-Meter
You might not have been around in the 1960s, but that doesn't mean you won't be able to follow what's going down in this book. For the most part, it's about your average American kid (Delphine) and...
Plot Analysis
California, Here We Come Delphine and her sisters start off on a plane on their way to bright and sunny California. The girls are off to meet their mom who ran away without so much as a goodbye nea...
Trivia
It's personal. Some of Rita Williams-Garcia's family members are Black Panthers, so she's familiar with them. (Source.) The author wrote One Crazy Summer for the children of the Black Power Moveme...
Steaminess Rating
This book might be about self-discovery and exploration, but Delphine is eleven so the only steaminess that comes with this is a super tame crush on Hirohito. They can't even admit they dig each ot...
Allusions
Island of the Blue Dolphins (8.7: 15.10)Emily Dickinson (22.6)Robert Frost (22.6)Countee Cullen (22.6)William Blake (22.6)Homer (32.19, 32.20)Langston Hughes (32.19, 32.20)Cassius Clay a.k.a. Muham...