One Crazy Summer - End-of-Book Test

Why did Delphine initially tell Sister Mukumbu that she and her sisters would not be

attending the Black Panthers’ rally?

• She thought it was too dangerous.

• She did not believe in the purpose behind the rally.

• She did not think a rally would change anything.

• None of the above.

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Did Delphine and her sisters attend the rally?

• Yes

• No

• There was no rally

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Which of the following literary terms describes a scene that interrupts the chronological

sequence by recalling a previous event?

• irony

• allusion

• alliteration

• flashback

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Reorder the following

• Delphine and her sisters go on an excursion.

• Cecile tells Delphine about her past.

• The police arrest Cecile and two other Black Panthers.

• Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern perform Nzila’s poem.

• Delphine rides Hirohito’s go-kart down a steep hill.

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Reread the excerpt from Nzila’s poem “I Birthed a Black Nation” on p. 196:

I birthed a black nation.

From my womb black creation spilled forth

to be

stolen

shackled

dispersed.

Who is the speaker of this poem?

• America

• Mother Africa

• Father Time

• Delphine

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Reread these lines from p. 190:

As the go-kart went faster, I felt the rumbling of the wheels hitting the concrete underneath me. I

screamed. So loud I startled myself. I had never heard myself scream. Screamed from the top of my

lungs, from the pit of my heart. Screamed like I was snaking and falling. Screamed and hiccupped

and laughed like my sisters.

Part A: This passage includes an example of which literary device?

• allusion

• flashback

• repetition

• alliteration

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Explain why this moment is important for Delphine.

Answer explanation

The repetition of the word “scream” throughout the passage emphasizes how out of character this moment is for Delphine. She’s “never heard [herself] scream” because she is usually too grown up/mature and too busy taking care of her sister to do something carefree and childish. In this moment, she lets herself go, flying and screaming down the hill, and reclaims a part of her childish side.

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Reread these lines from p. 164:

We were black kids, and he expected us to be in his gift shop to steal. When he asked us what we

wanted, I answered him like I was at the Center, repeating after Sister Mukumbu or Sister Pat: “We

are citizens and we demand respect.”

I grabbed Fern by the hand and said, “Let’s go.”

I had that Black Panther stuff in me, and it was pouring out at every turn.

Explain how Delphine’s perspective on “that Black Panther stuff” changed since the beginning of the

novel.

Answer explanation

Initially, Delphine was skeptical and unsure about the Black Panthers. She remained separate from them, feeling like she and her sisters were there for breakfast, but not the revolution. In this moment, however, Delphine is seeing the injustice the Panthers are fighting against in person: the store owner has judged them and treats them like shoplifters because they are black. She has started to adopt the Black Panther attitude and it is “pouring out” of her.

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Passage 1: Reread this passage from p. 147.

The stool made things different. It was an invitation for me to sit down and be there. Not talk. Just

cook. Be. As the spaghetti boiled, pictures flashed in and out of my mind. Flashes of sitting with

Cecile and being quiet. It was the welcome that brought me back. That I’d sat with her before and it

was all right. Not in this kitchen, but in the kitchen in Brooklyn. Back when Sarah Vaughan filled the

house with her smoky voice, Vonetta was far away crying to be picked up, and Cecile’s belly was big

with Fern.

I wouldn’t be exaggerating if I said I was born knowing what to do when I sat with Cecile: Don’t cry.

Stay quiet. Want nothing. I could talk, but I’d learned that, as long as I was quiet, I was allowed to sit

with her while she tapped against the wall with her pencil, wrote and wrote and said her rhymes

over and over. Don’t cry. Stay quiet. Want nothing.

Then Fern had come, and days later Cecile left. Big Ma had moved in and told Pa, “That gal’s dumb

as a dry pump,” meaning me. Cecile wouldn’t have minded if I had been born deaf and mute, but

Cecile was gone. Big Ma was another story. I quickly learned to speak up around Big Ma.

7. In a paragraph of 6-7 sentences including evidence from the excerpt, analyze this scene. Explain:

● What is happening in this scene?

● What does the stool symbolize or represent?

Answer explanation

In this scene, Delphine has returned to Cecile’s house after a long day at the Center and is preparing to cook dinner when she sees Cecile has brought a secondhand stool for her into the kitchen (so she doesn’t have to cook standing up). The stool is “an invitation” and symbolizes welcome for Delphine; she realizes Cecile is telling her (without words) that she’s welcome to stay in Cecile’s space, the kitchen where she does her work. Feeling the welcome from the stool reminds Delphine that she and Cecile have shared space in this way before; she recalls “flashes of sitting with Cecile and being quiet.” This flashback reveals a new side of her relationship with her mother, showing that Delphine has memories of how to connect (even in a small way) with Cecile. This flashback also reveals that Big Ma and Cecile have always had different expectations for Delphine. While Cecile wanted Delphine to “Stay quiet. Want nothing,” Delphine had to “quickly [learn] to speak up around Big Ma.”

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