The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963
by Christopher Paul Curtis
Curtis, C. P.
(1995). The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963. NY: Bantam Doubleday Dell
Books for Young Readers.
The year is 1963, and ten-year-old Kenny Watson and his family are doing
their best to make it through another bitterly cold Flint, Michigan
winter. A middle child, Kenny has an
older brother Byron, who is nothing short of a bully and juvenile delinquent,
and a little sister Joetta, who is torn between worshipping her brothers and
tattling on them. With a southern raised
mom, and a goofball of a dad, Kenny says it’s no wonder people refer to them as
“The Weird Watsons.” At the beginning of
the story, Curtis focuses on detailing the dynamics of the Watson family and
Kenny’s desire to fit in with his schoolmates.
Children will find it easy to relate to Kenny as they will likely see a
reflection of their own feelings and concerns through his eyes. As the story progresses, and older brother
Byron’s delinquent behavior escalates, the parents decide it’s time to load up
the Brown Bomber (their car), and take a trip down to Mrs. Watson’s home state
of Alabama where he can spend the summer with Grandma Sands and get a dose of reality. Life in the deep south is very different from
what the young Watsons have experienced in their life growing up in
Michigan. Mrs. Watson, however, is well
aware of the racial intolerance and hate that may be encountered on the trip
during the height of the civil rights movement.
In these times, an African-American family would not be welcome to just
stop anywhere to dine, use the restroom or spend the night so she carefully
plans a trip that will get her family to their destination safely. Upon their arrival in Birmingham, Curtis
brilliantly weaves in the true and tragic event of the bombing of the Sixteenth
Avenue Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, where four young girls lost their
lives. As the Watson family learns what
has happened, they are faced with the realization that their youngest child was
attending Sunday school at the church that very morning and rush to the
scene. Kenney’s world is shattered from
the experience and as the family returns home they rally around him to help him
understand and deal with his feelings of guilt and frustration with what can
sometimes be a very cruel world. While
some of the topics addressed in this book are quite serious and sensitive, they
are addressed in such a way that is approachable and appealing to young
audiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment