The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963

Curtis, C (1995). The watson’s go to Birmingham-1963.  New York: Delacorte Press.

This novel is a Newberry Honor award winner.  It is about a family living in Flint, Michigan in the 1960’s.  When Byron becomes too troublesome to hand they decide to take a road trip to Birmingham so he can stay with a very strict grandmother.  While in Birmingham, many things happen.  For example, a church was bombed that killed many children and this really traumatized Kenny.  You’ll have to read the book to learn who helped Kenny during this serious event.  I’m sure you will be astonished! This book is told in first person point of view because it is told from Kenny’s perspective. We know exactly how Kenny is feeling when Byron treats him terribly, which is pretty much all the time. 

When I read about the church bombing, that brought back a text to text connection, as I have read an interview from the Junior Scholastic Magazine by Carolyn McKinstry, who was one of the children that joined the Children’s Crusade and was in the church at the time of the bombing. 

As we all know of the segregation laws and issues that happened back in the 1960’s, if this were told with a setting of 1980’s in New York, it would have a totally different meaning and would change the story completely. Therefore, I feel that the setting of this story was an integral part of the story!  

This book had many humorous events in it as well as the tragic ones.  The event in the story that I found to be comical was when Byron got his tongue stuck to the mirror on the car.  This brought back a text to world connection because I had watched a movie where a little boy had his tongue stuck to a metal pole.

I would recommend teaching this novel as a literature circle activity. However, due to the slow moving plot, I feel that some students may have difficulties understanding or enjoying the book.