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Black Tween Girls with Black Girl Power: Reading Models of Agency in Rita Williams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer
- Source: Language Arts, Volume 94, Issue 3, Jan 2017, p. 170 - 179
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- 01 Jan 2017
Abstract
This descriptive content analysis of Williams-Garcia’s One Crazy Summer examines the ways in which Delphine, the African American female main character, is represented throughout the novel as she navigates the challenges she faces as a tween Black girl in the midst of the Black Panthers movement. Delphine’s story fills a gap in children’s literature that fails to focus on the experiences of tween black girls, particularly girls who work to enact change and agency throughout their community. This analysis of Williams-Garcia’s award-winning work examines the spaces “between” young girls’ adult influences, their geographical locations, and their understanding of what it means to be Black. For Delphine, navigating these components means learning from others while finding a way to “make and remake” her own Black girl power and Black girl magic even in the midst of change, uncertainty, and societal power structures.