Curtis, C.P. (1995). The Watsons go to Birmingham.NY: Delacorte.
Summary
This Caldecott and Coretta Scott King Honor book is told by 9 year old Kenny,
the middle child of an African American family living in Michigan. Kenny’s brother Byron is always in
trouble. He doesn’t follow the rules,
skips schools, bullies other kids, and plays with fire. The parents realize that the city of Flint is
not the best environment for the boy.
The family plans and saves up to travel the long trip to Grandma’s house
in Birmingham, Alabama. They are sure that Grandma can get him on the straight
and narrow path again. The children
experience what living in the south during the 1960s was like. Readers can begin to understand the confusion
of the children as they experience racism for the first time. This book is set in a specific time period
and place in history when the south was in turmoil over civil rights and full
of race related violence. The author
does include one actual event in history (the explosion of a church where four
African American girls lost their lives).
Mr. Curtis uses dialect from the south where appropriate and expressions
from the youth of the time. This story
of one family’s trip to the south will help readers to connect with the emotion
of this particular time in history.
Hallmark Movie based on the book
Book Trailer
Lesson plans or activities
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