The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

Published in 1995, The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis is a realistic middle grade novel told from the point of view of 10-year-old Kenneth Watson. The Watson family lives in Flint, Michigan, in 1963. The early chapters of the book detail Kenny’s family life, school days, classmates, and older brother Byron’s exploits. When Byron takes one of his “adventures” too far, Kenny’s parents decide a family road trip to Birmingham, Alabama, is in order; there, they plan to leave Byron with strict Grandma Sands for the summer. No one in the family expects the hatred and violence they encounter, which leave Kenny and Byron facing hard questions about the views of others. The novel, Curtis’s first, was a Newbery Honor book and earned the Coretta Scott King Award. This guide references the 1995 Delacorte Press edition.

Plot Summary

Kenny, his older brother Byron, his younger sister Joetta, and their parents huddle together on the couch on a freezing Saturday in Flint, Michigan. Unable to reach the landlord about their lack of heat, Dad decides they will spend the night with Aunt Cydney. He tells Kenny and Byron to go scrape the ice from the car windows.