Delphine Gaither

Delphine Gaither is the main character and narrator of the novel “One Crazy Summer” by Rita Williams-Garcia. At 11 years old, Delphine is the oldest of three sisters. She is unerringly responsible, cares deeply for, and takes care of her younger sisters, Vonetta and Fern, and deeply loves and respects her father, Louis Gaither, and her grandmother, Big Ma Gaither. A resident of Brooklyn, New York, Delphine and her sisters travel to Oakland, California, to reestablish contact with their mother, Cecile, who abandoned them seven years before to go and live her own life for herself. Delphine bears a grudge against her mother for this, for Delphine is old enough to remember some of her mother being around, and feels betrayed as well as abandoned.

In Oakland, Delphine is neither surprised nor let down by her mother’s selfishness and cruelty. She assumes the role of a mother...