Title: The Watsons Go
to Birmingham - 1963
Author: Christopher
Paul Curtis
Genre: Historical
Fiction
Read by: Levar Burton
Publisher/Date: Random
House/1996
Dates listened to: 6/27/17
– 7/4/17
CDs/Hours: 4/4 3/4
ISBN: 978-0-307-24317-6
It’s 1963 and Kenny Watson’s thirteen year old brother,
Byron, is turning into a juvenile delinquent -- that is, for what was
considered “bad” for the times. So, off
to Mama’s mama to get him straightened out.
The Watsons live in Flint, Michigan but Mama is from Alabama and it’s a
three day drive. Dad has other ideas
though about how to get there and does it in 15 hours flat. Upon arrival, Grandmother Sands welcomes the
family with open arms.
From there, Byron, becomes less of a handful, having
philosophically considered his options.
Kenny, too, is deeply affected by the dark moments in America’s history –
the civil rights movement. While Kenny
experiences his own coming of age moment, his little sister
Joetta and other family members experience the horror of a Sunday in September
when the little church was bombed, killing young girls attending that fateful
day.
It’s truly an appropriate Independence Day to hear about
this tragedy and know we continue to live through trying times in this very
moment, always with hope. Christopher
Paul Curtis’s story was a Newbery Honor book.
Curtis has won the Coretta Scott King Award and received many other
honors. I want now to read Bud, Not
Buddy, his Newbery Winner.
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