The Watsons go to Birmingham By: Shelby Pettit
The Watsons go to Birmingham is a very good book. It is about a black family during the 1960’s, during this time discrimination was a big issue. The family called The Weird Watsons. The family had Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, big juvenile brother, Byron, and the middle child, Kenny. At this point in time Kenny is only 11 so he does not know that much about how racist the world really is. The family live in Michigan and one day they get a new car called “The brown bomber” and decide to go visit Grandma in Birmingham, Alabama. They are going because Byron has been acting a lot worse so they might leave him with Grandma when they come back.
When they go down there they are seeing even more
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Joetta is performing in the children’s choir but after wards kenny goes home with his Mom and Dad and Byron. While Joetta stays with the children’s choir. They hear a huge loud explosion and Mom and Dad run to the church. Byron follows and tell Kenny to stay at the house. But Kenny does not listen. He runs down to the church and sees fire and many people running and crying. He finds a hole in the wall so he climbs through it into the church. He finds his Joetta’s shoe and runs back home and crys. Soon later his family comes home and Joetta is with them. He is relived. But he realizes that even though the world is not perfect he has to keep pushing through.
Historical Accuracy:
Technology: This book has the same the same type of cars (The brown Bomber), and the same types of old phones and radios. Culture: The Watson’s go to church and talk about God a lot. Location: Birmingham, Alabama really had a lot of Discrimination and Martin Luther King Jr. spoke there. Events: That bombing at the church and many more had happened many times at black churches. Themes: The main theme in the book is Discrimination, was a very big problem for a very long time.
I really enjoyed this book and i would definitely recommend this book.
Words:
Another main point of this book kind of dealt with race as well because the Mexicans were seen as inferior to the Whites as well as the other races that were there in Arizona. It seemed to be a problem that the Mexican families were trying to adopt White children and it turned into a big issue of why they can’t keep the children. I felt that the author proved her point in writing this book because she explained all of the things that the Nuns went through with these children and how they were nearly killed for what they thought might be a kind act in God’s eyes. The orphans from New York entered into a racial predicament, which eventually got worse by the Anglo women. They were the ones who did not agree with the nuns giving children to Mexican families, and these Anglo women told their husbands and they had a vigilante resolution.
It has become common today that people of all ages go through mental changes, that transforms them into the person that they will become. This is seen in the historical fiction novel by Christopher Paul Curtis, The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, when the whole Watson family decides to visit Alabama. The two dynamic characters in the book, Kenny and Byron, transform after arriving in Birmingham. Kenny Watson’s transformation (middle child) was so important because it was what exposed him to how reality was like in the 1960’s, such as the Civil Rights Movement against segregation. In this scene, Kenny is confused about why people would kill little kids that were in a church.
It has been said, Family is not an important thing, It is everything. This is seen in the historical fiction novel, The Watsons Go To Birmingham, 1963, by Christopher Paul Curtis when Kenny learns about the importance of appreciating his family. During the road trip, Kenny gets to spend time with his loved ones and learn more about them, though he doesn’t always know it. The author uses symbolism to convey the message, Appreciate your family.
The book I read was called Fever 1793 and here is my book summary. This book is about a teenage girl named Mattie Cook. it all starts off on August 16, 1973 Mattie's family runs a little coffee shop in Philadelphia. there has been an outbreak of yellow fever in philadelphia all the sudden. the first person Maddie knows that gets yellow fever is one of the workers in the shop whose name was Polly, shortly after Polly dies.
In the novel, “The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963” by Christopher Paul Curtis, Byron can be very mean to others unlike his little brother Kenneth Watson. Kenny can be mean but most of the time he is very nice, loving, and caring. Kenny treats others better than Byron because he does not physically hurt people on purpose, he shares with everyone, and he is very caring to one another. Kenny does not intentionally hurt anyone physically unlike Byron. On page 16, the passage states “if my lips were stuck on the mirror attach to the car, Byron would have done some real, cruel stuff.”
Another way the book is more family oriented is when Momma was mad at Byron for playing with fire; she threatened to burn him, and when she was serious about it, but Joey stepped in and protected Byron by jumping in front of him every time Momma had lit the match to burn him. Like Joey protected By, in the film, African-Americans attempted to protect their rights by marching peacefully; only, they were to be greeted with high-powered hoses and vicious dogs. However, both in the movie and the book, Kenny and Byron have a serious talk and bonded over what happened at the church and in the real world; they realize family needs to stick together through tough times and periods where not everyone agrees with each other. Another novel about the mistreatment of African-Americans, that was also turned into a visual representation, is
When they decide to take a trip down to Alabama, they do not expect all these segregation policies that they face and become highly impacted. The Watson’s change throughout the historical fiction novel The Watsons Go to Birmingham 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis, which is a good example of an allegory because the events in the story often seem symbolic to the events involving civil rights in the United States. The Watson’s and America have to overcome the struggle of racism. The Watson’s change because of the 16th Street Bombing in Birmingham, Alabama. For example, Kenny started hiding behind the couch in hope for something to save him from his thoughts.
The book was very informative of life when racism was more apparent. I think that books like this show that standing up to racism is an option. It shows that even children of a younger age were involved in the situation.
After lunch they went back to the church , it was on fire. While pulling up, Ponyboy overheard how a bunch snuck into the church before it set flames. Jonny and Ponyboy knew it was their fault, so they jumped out of the car and bolted into the church. As Ponyboy was getting the last kid out of the window, the roof started to cave in while Jonny was still inside. Jonny had a broken back, sever burns and ended up
Book Report #4 The book I read this quarter was Glory Be by Augusta Scattergood. Its Lexile level is 680. This book is about a 11-year old girl named Gloriana Hemphill, who now comprehends how much racism is a problem in her hometown in Mississippi in 1963.
In the novel, The Watsons go to Birmingham by Christopher Paul Curtis, Kenny wonders why his brother Byron is so mean to people. Kenny does not treat others better than Byron because he laughed at Rufus and Cody, he was teasing Byron when his lips got stuck to the mirror, and he was complaining when he had to take off his little sister’s winter clothes at school. On page 43, when Larry Dunn makes fun of Rufus and Cody, Kenny laughs at them, too. A true friend could have stood up for Rufus and Cody.
In “The Watsons Go To Birmingham” the kids are upset society. In the play “The Watsons Go To Birmingham” the theme is courage because the Watson kids march illegally. The reason they did that is because, Alabama had specific rules about what race could do what, and the Watsons along
The most prominent theme in the book Bifocal by Deborah Ellis and Eric Walters is racism. We see cases of racism in in many chapters of the book. One of them was when the football team egged Haroon's house. Characters are always discussing the topic of racism and the affects of it. There are people like Kevin, who are the ones being racist.
“Byron had just told me that someone had dropped a bomb on Joey’s church,hadn’t he?” The historical fiction novel, The Watsons Go To Birmingham 1963,by Christopher Paul Curtis is a story about a family that goes to Birmingham to visit their grandma and how they find out about racism after a bombing experience at church. The Watsons is similar to America during the 1960’s because they both change.
What a loving family. In the Watsons go to Birmingham-1963, Christopher Paul Curtis, the author shows us the good relationship between the family by the characters actions, words, and feelings. The Watson have a good relationship between each other. First, the author shows The good relationship between the family with the characters action. I know this when Byron pulls Kenny out of the water.