Unit 3: EWP

Due date: Friday, March 21, 2025

PROMPT: Think about Delphine from our novel, “One Crazy Summer,” and what she had
to do to keep her sisters safe in a new location away from home. In an informative
essay, identify how Delphine was a perfect example of being “In the Dark” and how she
took action when there were no guidelines to help her. Be sure to use multiple
examples of evidence from the novel to support your response.

Be sure your essay includes the following:

❏ an introduction that contains your thesis statement
❏ 1 (or more) coherent body paragraph that contains reasons and 3 or more items of evidence
❏ a conclusion

I have provided a color-coding system for you. Feel free to change the colors to
what you prefer. You can also extend on the color coding to reflect text evidence,
and explain how the text evidence relates to what you have said.

EWP: Thesis Statement (What is your claim about Delphine?)

Thesis: Delphine is a perfect example of being “In The Dark”

Introduction Paragraph (Introduce your topic and provide your Thesis)

In the dark… no, not literally, but that is how you would describe Delphine when she
had to take her 2 little sisters on a plane ride 3000 miles away from home. In the
novel One Crazy Summer, written by Rita Williams-Garcia, we follow 3 sisters on a
month-long trip to California to visit their mother, Cecil. Delphine is a perfect
example of being “In The Dark”, she had very little guidance while visiting a mother
who left her to take the role of mother for her sisters. She played this role beautifully,
trying to have positive outcomes at every turn.

BODY Paragraph (This will be about you defending Delphine)

Delphine is a perfect example of being in the dark. She found herself 3,000 miles
away from home with her 2 younger sisters. They were being forced to stay with their
strange mom who abandoned them years ago. Cecil is really mysterious to the girls,
not allowing them in the kitchen, ordering them to eat take-out instead of cooking for
them, and when the 3 people in dark clothes and afros show up at the door it makes
her even more mysterious and weird to the girls. In chapter 3, “Tall, dark brown
woman in man’s pants whose face was hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades.”
Even the way she dresses makes her seem like a “secret agent mother”. You can see
how the situation was for Delphine, she had to make all her decisions by herself.
What was the best for her sisters, and doing things that no 11-year-old has to take on
themselves. She bathed them, cooked for them when take-out became too unhealthy,
and took them out on excursions. She took on the role of “mom” completely. One
example is in the chapter The Clark Sisters, where Cecil is arrested along with 2 black
panthers. Delphine is completely on her own there. The only adult they had was in jail,
she could have called her pa, but then she would never have heard the end of it when
she got back home. She was clever enough to go along with Cecil pretending that
Cecil was not their mother. Instead, she went back to Cecil's house and cleaned up
the ruined kitchen. Cecil does get let out, but in those moments when she was in
custody, Delphine was even more in the dark than before.

Conclusion Paragraph (Don’t repeat; state what you want your reader to walk away with)

After Cecil left, Delphine tried her best to make life normal for her sisters, trying to be
the motherly figure for the girls. But Delphine is only 11, she should not be already
taking on those responsibilities. No child should have to be that in the dark, when the
only adult you had, that wasn’t even guiding them was gone. So in the story, One
Crazy Summer, we can see that Delhine is a perfect example of being “In the dark”.

Use this box to complete your Final Draft. Everything you wrote in the Rough Draft section
above should be proofread, edited, and cleaned up before submitting your final draft.
Graphic Organizer: 10 pts P/A
Final Draft: 16 pts A/T

Final Draft
 In the dark… no, not literally, but that is how you would describe Delphine when she
had to take her 2 little sisters on a plane ride 3000 miles away from home. In the
novel One Crazy Summer, written by Rita Williams-Garcia, we follow 3 sisters on a
month-long trip to California to visit their mother, Cecil. Delphine is a perfect
example of being “In The Dark”, she had very little guidance while visiting a mother
who left her to take the role of mother for her sisters. She played this role beautifully,
trying to have positive outcomes at every turn.

Delphine is a perfect example of being in the dark. She found herself 3,000 miles
away from home with her 2 younger sisters. They were being forced to stay with their
strange mom who abandoned them years ago. Cecil is really mysterious to the girls,
not allowing them in the kitchen, ordering them to eat take-out instead of cooking for
them, and when the 3 people in dark clothes and afros show up at the door it makes
her even more mysterious and weird to the girls. In chapter 3, “Tall, dark brown
woman in man’s pants whose face was hidden by a scarf, hat, and big dark shades.”
Even the way she dresses makes her seem like a “secret agent mother”. You can see
how the situation was for Delphine, she had to make all her decisions by herself.
What was the best for her sisters, and doing things that no 11-year-old has to take on
themselves. She bathed them, cooked for them when take-out became too unhealthy,
and took them out on excursions. She took on the role of “mom” completely. One
example is in the chapter The Clark Sisters, where Cecil is arrested along with 2 black
panthers. Delphine is completely on her own there. The only adult they had was in jail,
she could have called her pa, but then she would never have heard the end of it when
she got back home. She was clever enough to go along with Cecil pretending that
Cecil was not their mother. Instead, she went back to Cecil's house and cleaned up
the ruined kitchen. Cecil does get let out, but in those moments when she was in
custody, Delphine was even more in the dark than before.

After Cecil left, Delphine tried her best to make life normal for her sisters, trying to be
the motherly figure for the girls. But Delphine is only 11, she should not be already
taking on those responsibilities. No child should have to be that in the dark, when the
only adult you had, that wasn’t even guiding them was gone. So in the story, One
Crazy Summer, we can see that Delphine is a perfect example of being “In the dark”.