Library:ADCLP/The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963: a novel
The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963: a novel / by Christopher Paul Curtis.
Summary
Told from the perspective of Kenny Watson, a 10 year old middle child in a middle-class Afro-American family living in Flint, Michigan in 1963. Although Kenny just wants to blend in with the crowd the members of his family are eccentric. Especially noticeable is his 13 year old brother Byron who is a self-confident, sarcastic, rebellious teenager. After Byron creates one too many mishaps Dad and Momma decide he should spend some time at Grandma Sands' in Birmingham, maybe he'll smarten up some. The entire family goes along for the ride. While they are in Birmingham a bomb explodes at the church of Grandma Sands and the family believes that little Joetta is one of the four black girls killed by the explosion. She was not, but Kenny is deeply affected by this experience.
Keywords
African Americans, Alabama, Brothers and sisters, Civil rights, Family life, Fiction, History, Identitiy, Prejudice, United States
Reading Levels
Ages 10 - 13 / Grades 5 - 8
Awards
- Newberry Medal Award, 1996
- Coretta Scott King Author Award (honor), 1996
- Notable Books for a Global Society, 1996
Publication History
- New York : Delacorte Press, 1995. 210 p. ; 22 cm. ISBN 0385321759 OCLC 32133739
- New York : Bantam Doubleday Bell Books for Young Readers, 1997. 210 p. ; 20 cm. ISBN 0440414121