Sweet Summer by Bebe Campbell pages 235-255

In the rest of the book Bebe would spend time writing to her father, whishing that she could spend the summer vacation with him and also asking him advice. After summer vacation Bebe went back to school. It was 5th years in the school. Although she didn’t like it she knew that she had to make mother happy, but every school year the white students would annoy her even more. There was always competition with whites and blacks in how they did in school, competing against each other, and either trying to be as good, or better than them, “What the white children learned, that’s what her child had to learn.”(Campbell.228). Bebe’s mother put many ideas into her head, about why proper English was the right thing to do, “Speaking impeccably proper English was a strategy in the overall battle for civil rights. Bebe, we have got to be prepared.” Bebe’s mother wanted her to change herself and to be something that she was not. she knew that the only person he could talk to was her father. Bebe always had her mother and aunt hovering over her, and making her speak proper English, but to Bebe, she considered it “acting white” and felt that in order to be considered black she had to act like herself.

"You can have all the marching you want. what it gets down to is economics." (Campbell.254)
as Bebe was listening to her mother she was thinking of what her father would say. As she was thinking she realizes how much he misses her father. also her father was the completeely opposite of her mother because her mother would force her to do something but her father would give her the best advice that he could to make her feel better about being an African American girl.

Sweet Summer pages 199-233

After Bebe wrote to her father she wanted an immediate response. She imagined her dad asking her how she was, how she got bigger than how he knew her before and all those questions he usually asked. But after reading the next chapter I realized that Bebe wasn’t only writing to herself but she was also going to a crisis of not having her father around her. Days passed and she was still thinking about her father. One week after her uncle Sammy came to visit her with out her knowing. That got her very exited because she misses having a father figure around her. Since her father died it’s been her and mother struggling with all those challenges that life has been giving them. One thing that her uncle had in common with her father was all the questions he started asking Bebe. After her uncle left her grandmother started having problems with her teeth. that was another struggle that the family had. at first the grandmmother didn't believe her dentist so she went to another one, he told her the same thing. the grandmother had to take all her teeth out one by one and put the fake teeth in. At first no one was really comfortable with it but as the days pass everyone started getting use to it.
"how are you doing in school" asked uncle sammy (Campbell 215)

i felt the same way as Bebe felt when her uncle asked her this question because her thought about this question was that all grown ups wanted to know the answer of that question evrytime they see you.

Sweet Summer pages 131-198

After having to go to a school the Bebe wasn’t comfortable with she learned how to deal with it for couple more years. But this time she made sure to listen to her mother and her grandmother’s advice to keep herself out of trouble. When Bebe begin her fourth grade year she saw how different her personality and her way of learning were improving. Her family was still on her about the opportunity that she has going to that school. She wanted to prove to them that she was finally doing her work. So when the teacher gave her three poems to memorize she found it as an opportunity to show to her mother and grandmother how well she was doing in school. When she told her mother about the poem project she had the mother made sure that she was doing what she was suppose to do. Later on Bebe went to her room and memorize two poems and left the other one. When her mother ask her to recited the poem for she notice that Bebe only knew the two shortest poem she asked her to go learn the other. Bebe knew that no matter what she did the mother always had a second opinion. However she made sure that she knew her words and study over and over again. When Bebe went to her room she started writing to her father about how she can’t wait about summer to come and tried to tell him everything that been happening.

“Girl you’re getting big. Now you better watch out for these little hardheads, hear me?” (Campbell 135)

In the beginning of the book she talked about her father’s death and all of sudden she started talking about her wanting to go to her father during the summer. That got me really confuse because now I’m wondering is the father dead or she just writing her own letter to herself and writing back to herself.

Sweet Summer (51-129)

In the few chapters in Sweet summer Bebe move to another city to have a better education. Her mother and her grandmother wanted her and her cousin name Michael to go to a white school to receive a better education that she had from a previous school. Although the school was mixed Bebe’s grandmother wanted her to be in her very best behavior. The grandmother knew what the white people expected of the black people. After the first two days of school Bebe was proud of herself for not disappoint her mother and her grandmother. A few days later while she was in class the teacher asked the class to make a sentence with the word birthday and everyone in the class had there hands up except Bebe. One of her classmate name Sandra made a sentence that involved her father and Bebe flipped out. However Bebe made a comment about wanting to stab Sandra with a knife. When Mrs. Bradley find out Bebe was sent to the principal’s office. Although they called her parents she didn’t know what was going to happen to her when she gets home. Although she didn’t get beaten she still got yelled out by her grandmother and her mother and from her opinion it was worse than a beaten.

"my made me a beautiful dollhouse for my birthday" (Campbell 66)
i think Bebe got mad because Sandra was talking about what her father gave her and i think Bbe flipped out because she didn't have a father anymore she was still dealling with his death.

sweet summer by Bebe Moore (pages 1-50)

In sweet summer Bebe demonstrated her life as African American girl. Ever since her father died from a car accident she's been living with her mother. The mother was really hard on her because after all the discrimination they used to say about black people, she was not going to let her daughter act certain ways. She wanted daughter to have the same education that the white kids had. Bebe couldn't even talk without using proper words because her mom would look at her like she crazy. However she was really comfortable with her mother. They use to talk about having a boyfriend and being sexually active. Bebe also a loving grandmother who gave advice when ever she wasn't feeling good about something. Bebe also looked up to her grandma. Although she didn't want to be alive at seventy nine she looked forward to have her strong will and to act just like her. As she was describing what her grandma does she realized that her father was the same exact way. As she kept on thinking about her father she figured that she was missing him the more she talked about him.

Favorite quote so far: "That'sa Negro colloquialism. Totally incorrect. They'll think you're dumb if you talk like that " (Cambell 2)