The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963

Curtis, C.P. (1995). The Watsons go to Birmingham, 1963. New York: Delacorte Press. Ten year old Kenny has a loving and weird family according to him. He has a sweet little sister, Joetta that enjoys going to Sunday school, an older brother, Byron that is considered a juvenile delinquent and two loving parents. Byron starts getting into a lot of trouble, so his parents decide to take a road trip to Birmingham, Alabama to visit the one person that can shape him up, the strict grandmother. Kenny describes the events leading up to the family trip to Birmingham and discusses the racism and segregation that was occurring in the South at that time. At the end, Kenny is struck with depression because of the horror of the bombing of the church and fearing his sister had died. Luckily, Joetta left church to follow a dog. Byron becomes more loving and helps Kenny get over the bombing and becomes a better person. Curtis uses the historical bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963 to set the setting of the difficult times African Americans had during the Civil Right Movement. He justified the dialect in the south compared to the north with grandma’s pronunciation of words such as “Wool Pooh” instead of “whirlpool.” The message to love one another and stick together, even through difficult times, was portrayed throughout the story. Family love is a strong bond that can help them overcome anything. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7yLMoAKAXo