Written by Rita Williams-Garcia
This is the third book following the Gaither Sisters. I haven’t read the first two, yet was still able to pick up the story with no problem. Delphine and her sisters Vonetta and Fern go to Alabama to visit their grandmother for the summer. With little worldly entertainment available, the girls get the special privilege to get to know their family and their roots. The author presents a variety of family relationships, both functional and dysfunctional. Anyone with a sister will appreciate and understand the squabbles between Delphine and Vonetta. Sisterhood is just one a piece in the puzzle that makes up this family. There is also step-family issues, half-siblings, parent-child issues, absent parent-child challenges, cousins, grandparent to grandchild interaction, and more. Being an oldest sister myself, I can empathize with Delphine as she balances pleasing her sisters with pleasing the adults in her life. A tornado is the crisis that brings all the family together as they worry and care for one another. Though Williams-Garcia gets a bit heavy with the racial issues for some young readers, it does add insight into threads that make the Gaither family who they are. But no matter your race, color, or nationality, any reader will understand the challenges and joys that come with being in a family.
Review by Teresa Edmunds, Westbrook Elementary Media Center
Rating: ★★★½✩ (3.5 stars)
Interest Level: Grades 5-8
Author Website: http://www.ritawg.com/
Gone Crazy in Alabama
Written by Rita Williams-Garcia
Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
293 pages
Release Date: April 21, 2015
