Book Report: One Crazy Summer

The book that I chose to review was Summer ball by Mike Lupica. It is about a kid named Danny who let his basketball travel team to the league’s championship and won. The next year he is going to Right Way Basketball Camp, which is a camp designed for kids at the elite level of basketball.

Summer for the Gods: The Scopes Trial and America's Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion concentrates on the Scopes trial, otherwise called the "Monkey Trial," which happened in Dayton, Tennessee in the mid year of 1925. The trial occurred in excess of a Tennessee law that banned the educating of human development out in the open schools. The American Civil Liberties Union needed to test the law, and a junior instructor named John Scopes, consented to help them. The alleged "trial of the century" united the well known government official and speaker, William Jennings Bryan, who headed the opposition to development campaign; and Clarence Darrow, who was viewed as the best criminal protection legal advisor of the time. The two men, plus their individual direction, clashed in the trail with the indictment in the end ready to maintain the law.

In Rick Bragg’s “Endless Summer,” the author conveys his nostalgia and portrays how, to him, summer has changed for kids as time has progressed. He speaks about how summer seemed to last so much longer back then- stating that time “didn’t fly. It lolled.” Obviously, time can’t actually change speeds, this just emphasizes how slow it felt to him as a child. Furthermore, summer felt so prolonged, it was almost as if it would never end. The statement “When did summers grow short, truncated?” has a strong tone of discouragement, letting the reader know that he yearns to feel this way again, and hopes that the children nowadays and forthcoming generations are able to experience this sensation. The number of summer days has never changed, but a mix

One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is a powerful, emotional, and humorous book about the experiences of three young girls in Oakland, California, in 1968. The book is about Delphine, a young eleven year old girl who is quick, witty, and responsible (Williams-Garcia, 2010). Delphine, along with her two younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, are sent away to spend the summer with their mother Cecile (Williams-Garcia, 2010). The three sisters are hesitant to live with a mother who abandoned them (Williams-Garcia, 2010). Delphine understands her responsibility and is trying to take care of her sisters amidst all the chaos that comes with Cecile’s world (Williams-Garcia, 2010). Rita Williams-Garcia writes a heartwarming story about family, while

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.

Edward J. Larson introduces the world to a very detailed account of the Scopes trial with a book called Summer for the Gods. Larson himself has a law degree, Ph.D. in history, and is a history and law professor at the University of Georgia making him more than qualified to elaborate on the accounts of this historical trial. Summer for the Gods describes the events leading up to the Scopes trial, trial itself, and the aftermath that takes place in 1925. This trial is based whether or not evolution should be taught in schools, a controversy that very much plagues the United States. The trial will put an infamous criminal lawyer Clarence Darrow and the famous fundamentalist religiosity politician William Jennings Bryan against each other in a

Life is full of various memories that shape who we are as a person, like making your very first friend, or learning how to ride a bike. Literature retells these stories using rhetorical and literary devices to help the reader visualize the story and apply it to their own lives. In the autobiographical narrative by Gary Soto “A Summer Life” the author recreates his childhood experience of stealing a pie by using imagery, diction, repetition and Biblical allusions in his writing.

The novel that I chose was Spoiled by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan. The main characters include Molly, Brooke, and Brick Berlin. This book is about a sixteen year old girl named Molly Dix, who, after the death of her mother, moves to Los Angeles, California to live with her biological father, Hollywood movie star, Brick Berlin and her half-sister Brooke. Molly isn’t used to living the life of a rich girl, so when she arrives, she is both excited and terrified; not only that, she’s meeting her dad for the very first time. Brooke welcomes Molly to high fashion and fame with an overwhelming dose of “sisterly love”. But in this town, no one is ever what they seem. I think that Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan built the story in a way that would

The genre historical fiction focuses young readers to inform them about historical and significant cultural events in history, but to do in a way that is comfortable for readers in this age group. One Crazy Summer is a good example of young adult literature of highlighting cultural/historical events and entertaining to its audience. Two characteristics that make this a great novel for middle school readers is that 1- It encourages further inquiry( historical) and 2-The situations and characters are relatable (Y/A novel).

“I remember only this: I plunged down into this ocean, down to rocky rocky bottom, and I could see the base of Beechwood Island and my arms and legs felt numb but my fingers were cold. Slices of seaweed went past as I fell.” That is a quote that describes how the conflict was made in the book that I read this summer “We Were Liars” By E. Lockhart. This book was about a girl, Cadence Sinclair. The entire Sinclair Family always goes away to a private island off of Massachusetts every summer. Her and Johnny, Mirren and Gat made up a group called the Liars. Johnny and Mirren are her cousins and Gat is her friend that comes with Johnny every year. One day in summer 15, Cadence could not find any of the Liars to play with,

We have observed two different short stories, one called “Examination Day” by Henry Slesar, and another called “All Summer in a Day” by Ray Bradbury. “Examination Day” is about how when a person becomes 12 years old they have to take an examination determining their intelligence. Anyone with an intelligence above the norm is considered unacceptable. Anyone smarter than the norm is eliminated. The story focuses on a very intelligent boy taking his Examination, and getting killed for being too smart. The story “All Summer in a Day” is about a colony on Venus that faces constant rain and the sun shining once every 7 years. The story focuses on a girl Margot, from earth who is harassed by the others on Venus since she remembers the sun being

Kids can be  cruel when they are envious as shown in the short story, “All Summer In A Day,” by Ray Bradbury. The sun is what makes Margot happy, and when that gets taken away from her. In this short story there is several acts of cruelty to Margot by her classmates. These kids live in the planet of Venus, and they haven’t seen the sun in seven years, except for Margot. The kids are only nine years old so they haven’t seen the sun since they were two years old, but Margot moved there from Earth when she was four and she remembers the sun and that makes the other kids envious. In the beginning of the story it is the day that the sun is supposed to come out for the first time in seven years! The kids were skeptical except for Margot because she wanted to see it so bad. The kids were starting to prepare for the sun to come out but they were sitting inside waiting. While they were waiting the kids decided to lock Margot in a closet and not let her out. When the sun came out all the kids ran outside to play in the sun that felt so warm and nice on their skin, except for Margot, who was sitting inside in the dark closet. When the kids came back inside they felt sorry for leaving Margot in there. Envy can lead people to commit awful acts and cause shame as demonstrated throughout the character's actions in, “All Summer In A Day.”

“It has been raining for seven years; thousands upon thousands of days compounded and filled from one end to the other with rain, with the drum and gush of water, with the sweet crystal fall of showers and the concussion of storms so heavy they were tidal waves come over the islands.” (Bradbury, 1954) In the dystopian story, “All Summer In A Day” by Ray Bradbury, it takes place on the planet, Venus. A group of children, along with scientists get to live there, while being educated at the underground school. Margot, who is only 9 years old, wasn't born on Venus like the other children, but instead on Earth. She’s the only one who remembers how the sun felt through her skin and how beautiful it shined. On the contrary, the other children are jealous of her because she has some memory of the sun, while they don’t. Jealousy caused the children to harass, isolate, and make her depressed.

The 2011 Coretta Scott King Author Award was awarded to One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia. Narrated by eleven-year-old Delphine, this story is set in 1968 in Oakland, California. The topics in this book include the Black Panther Party, child abandonment, and cultural differences; however, these are all told from a child’s point-of-view.

Imagine loving a stranger but knowing you’re unable to be with them, Dana Gioia perfectly shows this in his poem “Summer Storm”. As Gioia’s poem is read, one can conclude that the speaker feels a love towards a stranger and feels the love back for a moment. Unfortunately is unable to be with this person because nothing was pursued. One could conclude that the love is forbidden or our other person is unsure of who they want to be with or who they are. Gioia uses rhyming in his poem to help the readers gain a personal connection to it; he also uses end rhyming in the second and fourth rows of each stanza. Gioia uses enjambment as well, which can be viewed as a run-on sentence used in a poem. He uses tone in his poem, which allows the reader to feel the pain of the speaker as he goes through a heart-wrenching experience, but also experience the feeling of a short relief as the speaker experiences someone having interest in him. When one finishes the poem one can identify that the speaker is also the author.