P.S. Be Eleven

Written by: Rita Williams-Garcia

First line: You'd think that after flying six-odd hours from New York to Oakland, then flying six-odd hours back, Vonetta, Fern, and I would be world-class travelers, and those bumps and dips would be nothing.

Why you should read this book: Picking up where One Crazy Summer leaves off, this book follows Delphine and her sisters as they return to New York, much changed from the girls who went to visit their mother at the beginning of the summer, thanks to their new revolutionary mindset. But New York has changed too: their father has a girlfriend, their uncle is a different person since his return from Viet Nam, and while their grandmother has stayed the same, they can't help but see Big Ma in a different light after hanging out with the Black Panthers. While still trying to manage her sisters, Delphine has to navigate a new grade, a very new teacher, new boys, her very serious feelings about a new boy band called The Jackson Five, and a series of letters from her unusual mother, which don't feel very helpful now, but might be later on.

Why you shouldn't read this book: I thought it was a little disingenuous of the mother to constantly tell Delphine to "be eleven" when Delphine became the parentalized child solely because her mom didn't want to be a parent.