Book Review: The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963

I can only watch so much TV, and so, I figured I would finish reading my book.

Book: The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

Description:

Enter the hilarious world of ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. There's Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron, who's thirteen and an "official juvenile delinquent." When Momma and Dad decide it's time for a visit to Grandma, dad comes home with the amazing Ultra-Glide, and the Watsons set out on a trip like no other. They're heading South. They're going to Birmingham, Alabama, toward one of the darkest moments in America's history.



Rating: 4 stars

Review:

I thought this was cute and very well written but there were things I didn't like such as details of some of the gross things the boys did (but hey this story was told from a 10 year old boy's point of view). I did like that there were a lot of good family moments as well as funny moments. A majority of the book centers on the family's life in Flint, MI before they take the trip to Alabama.

The story is about Kenny Watson and his family as they deal with his older brother Bryon's bad behavior at home and at school. Bryon is a bit of a bully and aspiring bad boy. Tired and frustrated wit his continuous antics, the family sets out for a trip to Birmingham, Alabama to visit the kids' grandmother. It's also where Bryon will be spending the summer and possible the next school year if he doesn't start behaving better. His parents also want Bryon to get a better understanding of what's going on in the world especially with the unfairness of the times and to get some additional discipline from his grandmother.

While the family was in Birmingham, they witnessed a very tragic historical event, the bombing of the church that killed four girls.

This book definitely had the voice of a kid and I think the author did a good job of staying in that voice especially with dealing with the deeper moments near the end. The reader got to experience everything about that event through Kenny and how scared and confused he was. I think it would be hard for an adult to describe how they would have felt and probably even harder for a child.