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The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963
- By Christopher Paul Curtis
- Genre: Historical Fiction
Common Sense Media says
A funny novel with a devastating emotional punch.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that the language and writing are rich, capturing the immediacy of a young boy's thoughts, but the style sometimes overwhelms the story. This first-person account, written in the slang of a 10-year-old boy, examines how he and his family react to a pivotal moment in civil rights history.
What's the story?
They're called Weird Watsons, and sometimes Kenny, Joetta, and delinquent big brother Byron, deserve the name, like when Byron gets his lips frozen to a car mirror while he's practicing kissing. But when they visit Grandma Sands in Birmingham, they head into a nightmare. At first hilarious, but by the end devastatingly powerful, Curtis's first novel packs a terrific punch.
Ten-year-old Kenny introduces readers to his family; his parents, little sister Joetta, and tough, cool, delinquent-wannabe Byron. When Byron's antics escalate, though they are mild by today's standards, his parents decide he needs a dose of the iron hand of Grandma Sands. So they load up the car and head off to Birmingham for the summer.
Humorous incidents abound, but when the Watsons arrive in Alabama, they find themselves caught up in something far more serious than dealing with a mildly delinquent adolescent. Racists bomb Grandma Sands's church, and Kenny's little sister is feared dead. Kenny, who witnessed what happened, sinks into depression and believes that only magic can heal him. But when his parents don't know how to help him, he finds comfort in the words of the person he least expected.
Is it any good?
Most of the book is hilarious, told in Kenny's distinctive and believable voice. But when the family travels South, and Joetta heads off to Sunday School in Birmingham, readers who know a bit of history think they know what's coming. When Joetta is not killed in the church bombing, readers heave a sigh of relief, and the family heads back to Michigan for the last chapter of what now seems like an enjoyable but lightweight book.
And then the author wallops readers with an emotional sucker-punch. For Kenny saw the results of the bombing, and he is no longer whole. No one knows what is wrong or what to do about it, as he drifts further and further away, hidden behind the couch where he believes magical powers will somehow heal him. But in an emotionally wrenching scene, tough, bad, kindhearted Byron figures out what is going on and, in his casual, undemonstrative way, knows just what to do about it.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about coping with terrible events.
Kenny tries to cope by hiding. Why doesn't that work?
Has a family
member or friend ever helped you work through painful emotions?
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- Teens & kids
Kid, 12 years old
March 21, 2011
AGE
The Watsons Go To Birmingham
This story takes you on an adventure, you could be eleven or eighty and you would still fall in love with this book. Me, myself has read this book more than five times. Don’t judge a book by its cover! It may be thick and have little letters but you’ll breeze through this book like nothing. Let me give you the character traits; Byron is the tough macho cool misbehaved one of the family; he’s also the oldest. Kenny, on the other hand is the middle child; he keeps to himself but speaks out when he needs to. Joetta is the little baby of the family; she’s very kind and doesn’t like to hurt anyone in anyway. She goes to church every single Sunday and won’t miss it for anything in the world. When her parents yell at Byron for doing something bad and want to spank him she just won’t allow it. She is very religious. Your probably wondering why they called this book the Watsons go to Birmingham… right! They called it that because Byron does something so bad that they just can’t take him anymore and make him to his grandma sands house for the summer. They said that if he didn’t improve in his behavior by the end of the summer, he was going to stay there for the whole school year. Byron thought that they were kidding but they weren’t. Mrs. Watson had already planned this because she knew that one day this was going to happen. She had what kind of sandwich everyone was going to eat each day and how many. When they were going to stop for gas. When they were going to stop and sleep in the car. Don’t think that it’s just a book describing a car ride. Get ready for some comedy; although I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone smaller that eleven. This book may toss around a few cause words but not that many; not that much to get worried about. So I would definitely recommend this book to anyone eleven and older.
By:
Alicia Rubio
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AGE
terrific... ish
the book is totally terrific except byron's complete behavioral about-face went way too quickly. when reading the rest of the book, this family was so real they might have been living next door. but byron went from delinquent to understanding older brother in about three pages.
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Kid, 12 years old
March 22, 2011
AGE
The Watsons Go to Bermingham 1963
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Kid, 12 years old
January 30, 2010
AGE
Better For OLDER Kids
I didn't like this very much. I think this is iffy for kids age 10. Some of the things in here really bothered me; when the mom tries to burn one of her kids fingers, the personification of the 'Wool Pooh' or whirlpool, the bombing of the church, and seeing a dead girl which the main character thought was his sister among other things. I think younger kids might get freaked out about some of the things that happen in this story.
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AGE
Byron says the H-word, the D-word, the S-word, and the A-word in this book. The people also says "Oh my god!" and "I swear to God" a lot which kind of offended me. Also, I don't like how Byron play with fire, cusses, kills baby birds, and punches second graders. Little kids might get upset when Byron kills a tiny baby bird with a Swedish Cremes cookie. Also, I got very worried in two scenes : One was the part with the bombing in the church, and two was Kenny's near-death experience with Wool-Pooh. Great book, but slightly edgy for young readers.
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AGE
The Watsons -not ok for classroom
The writing is bad, vernacular irrelevant to modern world, abusive nature of mom in chapter 5, references to Nazis (supposed to be funny), God. Wool Pooh nonsensical to young children. Trying too hard, message of civil rights lost . So many better works out there. Title is misleading. Language over the top for children... "nekkid ladies" p 40; garbage truck full of dead frozen people, teasing; "I'ma gonna hunt you down and hurt you bad" p. 57; Byron kills a bird then vomits; on drive to Birmingham, "if they caught your ass out here like this they'd hang you now"; "what the hell you starin at?"
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AGE
ok......
Byron uses minimal bad language but is still a hazard to kids under 10, and is very educational.
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AGE
good for ages 10+
i thought the book was awesome !!! but my little siter of 8 tryed reading it andd she just didnt understandd the racist part of it so if you want them to understand the book good i say only 10 and up should read it so they can appciate it like i did (:
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| Author: | Christopher Paul Curtis |
| Book type: | Fiction |
| Genre: | Historical Fiction |
| Publisher: | Random House |
| Publication date: | January 1, 1995 |
| Number of pages: | 210 |
| Hardcover price: | $16.95 |
| Paperback price: | $0.00 |
| Publisher's recommended age(s): | 9 - 12 |
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