One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia is an historical fiction novel from 1968.  Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern are sent to Oakland, California to spend the summer with the mother who abandoned them and who they do not remember. They have visions of Hollywood and Disneyland, but their expectations are not even close to what they find when they get to Cecile’s house. She makes it clear that she did not want them and they are not to mess up her life. She spends her time writing poetry in the kitchen, which is off-limits to them. They spend their days at a community center run by the Black Panthers and eat carry-out food every night. This novel is powerful and even humorous at times. The sisters are distinct characters and each comes to grips with a world like nothing they have known before.  They learn that love does not always look the way we expect.