One Crazy Summer: The Graphic Novel by Rita Williams-Garcia

This graphic novel version of One Crazy Summer adds terrific visual impact to a thought-provoking story.

One Crazy Summer: The Graphic Novel by Rita Williams-Garcia, illustrated by Sharee Miller. Quill Tree Books, 2025. 304 pages.

• Reading Level: Middle grades, ages 10-12
• Recommended For: Ages 10-12

Delphine, age 11, and her two younger sisters are flying across the country to see their estranged mother, Cecille. It’s not exactly the reunion they imagine. Cecille (they never call her “mother” or any other familiar term) sends them to the corner Chinese restaurant for dinner takeout and to the local community center for breakfast and lunch. No hugs here. Just a “stay out of my kitchen” and “come home at dark” before Cecille returns to her own mysterious work (in said kitchen). Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern march to the center every morning for breakfast and soon find themselves in Black Panther training the rest of the day: making signs, learning about citizens’ rights, talking of revolution.

As Janie wrote in her review of the original, “One Crazy Summer romanticizes the Black Panthers but shows why their message was so compelling…. Delphine’s voice is clear and distinct and a joy to read. Her crazy summer widens her outlook without disturbing her essential character, which is dutiful, resourceful, and decent.” The same vibe fills the graphic novel with a notable difference: readers can see—or picture or visualize—the Black Panther movement. Iconic posters (the stylized raise fist, among others), drawings of key people in the movement, and the obvious skin color differences when white store owners (for instance) look askance at the Gaither girls. Graphic novels straddle the line between visual storytelling like movies and text-based storytelling like books; in cases like One Crazy Summer, the added visuals add tremendous oomph to the original storyline.  

My biggest concern over the adaption of this book to a graphic novel is the choppy feel of the story, particularly at the beginning. Younger readers who have not read the original or who have little reference for the Black Panther movement may have trouble figuring out the nuances and basic plot at first. The novel settles in, and soon the story is humming along; visuals help readers keep track of characters as well.

Considerations:

• Language: Big Ma prays, but Cecille and other characters speak occasionally in symbols. Cursing is thus implied, but not spelled out.

Bottom Line: A solid adaptation of a much-lauded middle grades novel.

Recommended Reading at Redeemed Reader

• Review: See our review of the original One Crazy Summer!
• Review: School Trip and the rest of in the series by Jerry Craft offer more graphic novel fun while also raising questions of racial awareness. In The Lucky Ones (not a graphic novel), an impoverished family in the rural south takes a big step up during the Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s.
• Review: Coretta, a picture book biography of Coretta Scot King, also sheds some light on the Civil Rights movement.

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