The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963

Before I started kindergarten, I spent the days with my grandparents. I would nap in the gap behind their chairs and couch in the living room -- not because I was attempting to heal and forgive myself, but because it was a cozy place to nap.

The Watsons starts as a warm family story with vibes similar to A Christmas Story, and then BAM: remember the turmoil of the South in 1963? This book tells the story of the "Weird Watsons", a family with a big brown car that has a record player installed. The same car that eldest child Byron got his lips stuck to the window during a harsh winter. A car that was already old when they got it but with lots of tender-loving care, it carries them to Birmingham, Alabama from Flint, Michigan one show more summer.

They're traveling to visit family and to drop off Byron, who's been behaving like an absolute menace (starting fires, bullying, straightening his hair!). All seems well when they arrive, but they can't escape the horrors of 1960s Alabama for long. First, Kenny meets the Wool Pooh, Winnie's evil twin, a terrible beast that tries to drown kids. After meeting Wool Pooh, Kenny knows blind panic. Then, a few days later, a bomb explodes and blows up any sense of safety he had left.

One of my favorite parts is watching Byron step up. The same kid who’s been acting like a juvenile delinquent becomes an older brother who knows exactly what to do when Kenny disappears into himself -- pulling him back from behind the couch and helping him heal.

Reading this now also has that extra layer of UGH! HISTORY JUST KEEPS REPEATING: people letting fear-driven hate eat away at their humanity—and still claiming the high ground. It’s depressing how old that pattern is.

Ultimately, this book is about family and is full of love and humor. I finished it feeling a mix of love-for-family and fury-at-history. I didn’t love it quite as much as The Mighty Miss Malone (I adored Deza's verbosity), but I’m definitely in for more Christopher Paul Curtis.

(I'm trying to read books I own this year so I'm thinking next I'll visit 1968 with the Gaither Sisters in One Crazy Summer by Rita Williams-Garcia.) show less

It's sort of easy to forget the title of this book, as the trip to Birmingham doesn't even come up until well past the halfway point. And by then I was enjoying the slice of life family interactions in Flint, Michigan, so much I was sort of sad when the Watsons did hit the road. The trip also brought with it an unexpected excursion into magical realism, which I don't always welcome, but the reference to Winnie the Pooh that came along with it helped ease my pain.

The Watson family is so likable they anchor the book even through its most drastic tone shifts.

The Watsons go to Birmingham turned out to be a much more interesting book than I expected. Starting from author's choice of the language and the point of view, and ending with plot and characters, the story is a very interesting and enjoyable piece of writing. Through an interesting plot including both hilarious and dark moments in the life of Watson's family, the book sheds light on many different issues at once. Byron, who is an officially "delinquent" represents a "coming of age" issue faced by many teens - how to stay "cool" and fit in, but keep relationships with your family and stay human at the same time? Relationships between parents and children is another topic the author focuses on: Kenny's parents try different things to show more discipline his brother, but nothing seems to work; Kenny's dad admits that sometimes as parents they are not sure whether they are doing the right thing. The most global subject explored in the story is the racism and the civil rights movement of the 1960s. The story shows how the violence towards black people did not stop at adults, it touched and took away the lives of very young children, too. show less

In a sometimes episodic depiction of a Northern black family in the 60s, Christopher Paul Curtis has managed to create probably one of the funniest and saddest young adult books of the 20th century.

First published in 1998 (and republished by Laurel Leaf in 2000), The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 is more than a recounting of a family trip, despite the title. The book starts out with the various dealings of its protagonist and precocious 10-year old narrator, Kenny Watson, with his older brother (the troubled Byron), his younger sister (the sweet and sometimes annoying Joetta), and his parents.

Kenny's is a voice not easily forgotten. Charming and hilarious, he is probably one of my favorite fictional narrators. All that's needed to get show more an idea of the type of voice he possesses is to list some of his chapter titles:

1. And You Wonder Why We Get Called the Weird Watsons
4. Froze-Up Southern Folks
7. Every Chihuahua in America Lines Up to Take a Bite out of Byron
13. I Meet Winnie's Evil Twin Brother, the Wool Pooh

When Kenny's older brother plays one too many pranks and gets in trouble one too many times, the parents discuss in hushed whispers, and finally in boisterous somewhat staged voices, their intentions to take Byron to Birmingham to get disciplined and a good hard dose of reality living under the belligerent strictness of their Grandma Sands.

Their mom relating that Grandma Sands "says that that stuff on TV isn't happening around her" (119) is the first hint that all isn't as it is cracked up to be in Birmingham, something that Kenny does not quite understand or realize until it is too late to get the searing images of reality out of his head, or the readers. As Kenny says, their home of Flint is "about two million miles" from Alabama.

Kenny's experience as they make an unscheduled stop in the middle of nowhere, more a frightened reaction to the nervousness experienced by her mom and Byron about the realities of racism (Byron says to Kenny, "they'd hang you now, then eat you later"), is later magnified when he comes across the wreckage of a church bombing (based on Sixteenth Street Baptist Church that was bombed on September 15, 1963) that changes the family's lives forever.

While a bit jarring (such is life, I suppose), the switch from comedy to drama is one that is best rectified through the consistent voice of the narrator, whose voice and experience of the world is utterly convincing, and a great way to deal with very delicate subject matter of racism and children's death.

The delicate subject matter makes me think that parents should read this first before broaching the subject with children, but that this is a good way to bring it into focus (the epilogue gives a historical foundation for looking more into the history of segregation and civil rights.

That being said, the Watsons are a loving and lovable family. Moments of sibling rivalry and Kenny's unique perspective can make you laugh out loud, while the chilling realities seep in and transform the narrative into something that important enough to be shared across classrooms in this country.

The back cover recommends this for ages 10 and up - I would still read it first before handing it over to a 10-year old. show less

This is a book that has been on the shelf of my classroom library for years and I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't read it until now! I actually listened to the audiobook version, which was lovely as it was read by Lavar Burton!

The author writes in way that is relatable and makes you feel like you are having a conversation with the narrator, Kenny! The title of chapter 1 drew me right in--"And You Wonder Why We Get Called the Weird Watsons" and the stories of Kenny kept me reading! The narrator's humor connected the reader to him and his stories were entertaining. I was laughing as I heard about the whirlpool (Wool Pooh)! The anecdotes connect us to Kenny and his family and starts with lighthearted fun, then gets to more serious show more topics towards the end. As the family visits their grandma in Birmingham, they witness an atrocity, the Birmingham Church Bombing. The author does a great job of capturing how a kid would react to a serious situation, especially since Kenny initially thought his sister might be involved. This book opens the door for further conversations about the Civil Rights Movement and key historical events of that era. show less

Overall, I did like this story. I had mixed feelings at first, because I found it difficult to get into the story. About half way through the story I thought it was able to pick up nicely, and I was really engaged through the end of the story. The first reason I liked the story was because I thought the main characters were very well rounded. Throughout the story the reader views Bryon, as mean, and almost cruel sometimes. But, every so often the reader is able to witness glimpses of By’s sensitive side. Then at the end of the story when he is so concerned with his siblings wellbeing the reader is able to see By’s true feelings. Having such a dynamic character makes for an interesting read. This also allows him to become more show more realistic. A person is never going to just have one side, they are going o feel different things at different times, and Byron is an example of that. Another character that I liked in the story was the main character, Kenny. I thought Kenny was a very believable character. He would often get bullied because of his lazy eye. But, I think his reactions to this were often authentic, and relatable. He would always get upset by the bullying, and try to avoid it whenever he could. He would even try to hide his lazy eye from people. He would do this by looking at people sideways, instead of straight on. I think that multiple people can relate to being bullied for things that are out of their control. And most people will react like Kenny, and try to change, or hide, aspects of themselves. Having believable characters allows the reader to become engaged in the story, and more interested in what is going to happen to these characters. Something else that I liked about the story was that writing was engaging. When the family was in Birmingham I thought the writing was very engaging. Both when Kenny was pulled by the whirlpool and when the church was bombed. Both of these events lead to an exciting and suspenseful plot. The story was able to do a good job of building up the tension leading to the conflict. This tension was able to keep the reader excited about what was going to happen next, and how Kenny and the family would be able to handle the situation. A last thing that I liked about the story was that it was able to push the reader to think about tough issues. The first tough issue that is highlighted in the book is bullying. Throughout the story Kenny, and the new kid, Rufus, are bullied. Kenny is bullied because of his eye, and because he is smart. Rufus is bullied because he is from the south, and is poor. Through reading the book readers are able to witness the effects that bullying has on children. The main characters are young, but they are still greatly hurt by being bullied. Another tough issue that is pushed is human rights. The book is set in 1963 and the family travels to Birmingham, a part of the south that did not have equal rights for African Americans. Readers are able to witness some of what African American would have had to endure at the time. For example, the bombing. A church was bombed just so African Americans would not go to school with the white students. Readers are able to gain a little insight on what some families would have had to undergo, and are pushed to think about what this would have been like. I believe the overall big picture of this story is to show the difficulties that some families went through because of segregation. That even though these citizens lived in America, land of the free, they were often found as second class citizens. The book is used as a reminder so that history cannot repeat itself. show less

Middle child Kenny narrates this story of his family, who live in Flint, Michigan. Kenny is book-smart but frequently tricked by his older brother Byron and By's friend Buphead; eventually, Momma and Dad make good on their threat to send Byron down to Grandma Sands in Birmingham. The whole family takes a road trip in the "Brown Bomber," newly equipped with a record player, driving hundreds of miles; Momma's careful planning (about where they can safely stop, eat, and sleep) starts the boys realizing that things are different in the south. On the fateful, tragic Sunday of the Birmingham bombing, Kenny thinks that his little sister Joetta is in the church; he goes in to find her, then runs home, traumatized. Joey is miraculously okay, but show more Kenny is shaken even after the family returns to Flint, and it's Byron who helps him reenter the world.

See also: The Season of Styx Malone by Kekla Magoon, Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Quotes

If you asked Momma why you had to do something and she didn't feel like explaining she just repeated herself. (75)

If you try to be cool all the time and something surprises you you sure do look stupid. (re: Byron learning that Grandma Sands has an outhouse, 140)

"Momma and Dad say they can't help themselves, they did it because they're sick, but I don't know. I ain't never heard of no sickness that makes you kill little girls just because you don't want them in your school. I don't think they're sick at all, I think they just let hate eat them up and turn them into monsters." (Byron to Kenny, 200)

"Kenny, things ain't ever going to be fair. How's it fair that two grown men could hate Negroes so much that they'd kill some kids just to stop them from going to school? How's it fair that even though the cops down there might know who did it nothing will probably ever happen to those men? It ain't. But you just gotta understand that that's the way it is and keep on steppin'." (203) show less