The Watson family lives in Flint, Michigan, huddling for warmth during the cold winters. The book is written from Kenny Watson's perspective. Kenny is the middle child. His older brother Byron was "a god" at the elementary school, controlling everyone with his bullying friend, Buphead. Most of the time this worked to Kenny's benefit, but sometimes Byron and Buphead turned on Kenny. Kenny's younger sister, Joetta (Joey for short), cries over almost everything. In the first half of the book, Kenny tells us about several of Byron's acts of delinquency. Mr. and Mrs. Watson decide it's time for Byron to go live with his maternal grandmother in Birmingham, Alabama. After the car, the Brown Bomber, has been spruced up and cleared for the trip, all 5 Watson's pile in the car for the long drive. Momma has prepared a detailed itinerary of stops and planned every cent to be spent, but Dad has different plans. He drives for 18 hours straight to Birmingham. The children realize that while Birmingham is different, it's the backwoods place they thought it would be. In Birmingham, Kenny is confronted with two tragedies in a row and quickly the family rushes back to Flint, where Kenny is trying to deal with the fear and pain inside of him. The book wraps up with Byron being a caring and healing influence for Kenny, a drastic change of pace for him.
Curtis leaves the major Civil Rights commentary for his epilogue. A good summary of the movement and the events allows readers to connect the Watson's experience with the real life events. This book is engaging from start to finish, and would probably encourage a young reader to want to know more about the events of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement. I think the book would be good to use in conjunction with historical study of the time period, but based on reading level and subject matter is probably better suited for middle school age students and above.
As I was reading, I wondered what inspired Christopher Paul Curtis to write a book like this, one that covered such an important moment in history and about such a quirky family. Was this his family? Did he experience these events? After reading a few interviews (http://www.kidsreads.com/authors/au-curtis-christopher-paul.asp and http://www.powells.com/authors/curtis.html), I found out that the most inspirational moment for Curtis was his own family's 24 hour drive to Florida.
"That's how the story got started. It was about a family taking a trip and the year was 1963, but the story was called The Watsons Go to Floridaat the time. Then I went back and worked on it, but once I got the family to Florida, nothing happened. So I set it aside for a while, until my son brought home a poem by Dudley Randall called "Ballad of Birmingham" about the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church. As soon as I heard it, I said, 'Ah! The Watsons want to go to Birmingham!' and I wrote the rest of the story" (From the powells.com interview).
So, teachers, just keep in mind that someday your assignment may inspire a Newbery author!
I have been meaning to read this book for years, Kim. It seems to have been in the periphery of my awareness (and sometimes even my vision) but somehow I never carved out time for it. Great topic, inspired writer, euphoric endorsements. Your review may have inspired me to actually put good intentions into action. Thanks for the interview links. I am always interested in learning the story behind the inspiration of a plot line. How does it begin? How does it morph into the final product? Long car rides are certainly good times to percolate topics and I love the fact that Curtis found his spark as he pushed through on a road trip south to Florida.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it funny how all long car rides make great stories? So much can happen in such a condensed place in a fraction of a second. The 1960s is such an important historical time period that I feel does not get enough attention in elementary school social studies. There are definitely glimpses of the sixties-like Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, John F. Kennedy, etc.-but I haven't ever seen a worthy exploration of the sixties outside of an AP class on twentieth century America. I'm going to have to read this one, too!
ReplyDeleteI actually just came back from the Goodwill and bought this book for $3. I love books that deal with Civil Rights and I will start reading this one immediately. I love that the poem that inspired him to have the Watsons go to Birmingham was "Ballad of Birmingham." I remember reading the poem in middle school. It was so powerful. I know that if he was struck to write his book based on the words of this poem, it must be pretty good.
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