Rasco From RIF

WEDNESDAY WINDOW: The Watsons Go To Birmingham – 1963

September 23rd, 2009

Not too long ago Ari of Reading in Color and I were “talking” via comments on a blog where there was mention of the book THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM – 1963; she noted when she read it in school she found it to be one of the funniest books she had ever read, lots of laughs. Oh, my goodness, she is right about what is funny or at least she and I agree on “funny”…I laughed and laughed at the antics of the Weird Watsons as pegged by one child in the family.

But I get a little bit ahead of myself here, some background for you: The Watsons are a family in Flint, Michigan.  There is Dad, Momma, Kenny who is 10, little sister Joetta and there is brother Byron, who is 13 and according to Kenny, Byron is now “officially a teenage juvenile delinquent.” They are a pretty normal family by many standards although for their time period, the early 60s, they don’t fit one societal “norm”…they are black.  But author Christopher Paul Curtis takes us inside the house, inside the family structure and indeed, we see lots of normal.  Momma is an organizer and is practical, frugal. Dad then is the balance, not always practical and frugal. There are dinner table discussions, admonitions about proper behavior, looking one’s best when going outside the home, finishing homework.  I knew the book was “real” as well when there was a great discussion between Kenny and a new boy in school Kenny was asked to befriend…squirrel hunting, killing and eating squirrel was a topic of two or three pages with Kenny incredulous that people ate “squirrel.” My home state Arkansas comes up in that conversation. Yes, I have had squirrel and it is great! Reminds me of the funny article my grandmother Mid wrote me when I inquired while in college how to cook squirrel as it appeared I might be called upon to do.

But I digress….there is the matter of the book being funny which it indeed was whether it is Dad acting out how he wooed Momma away from Alabama to Michigan, away from Hambone Henderson who had proposed to her or the story of Byron’s lips freezing to the rear view mirror of the car or the car with the record player, this family has a good time, a rip roaring good time full of laughter.

But then Byron begins to slip away from his parents and a decision is made the family will travel to Alabama in the summer and Byron will stay with grandmother for a while. That trip to Alabama, even though only thirty of the 210 pages, was thirty of the scariest pages I have read given the planning that had commenced many days earlier by Momma to allow this black family to travel in peace without raising suspicion.  Made me stop and think long and hard.

The bomb goes off in the church in Birmingham and the Watsons along with many in America are changed. The writing in the closing twenty pages is powerful;  the author uses words sparingly but with power as he condenses Kenny’s deep feelings and confusion surrounding the event in Birmingham..

But the author makes Kenny’s transition back to the “real” Kenny so believable when he leaves us at book’s end with a familiar refrain heard in families day after day when there is but one bathroom and more than one person residing in the house.

If you have missed this book along the way, read it now. It has a lot to say to us about history, about today, family, youth and probably yourself…it did for me.

Carol

Wednesday Window, featuring books and/or information which illustrate the “Windows” portion of the paper “Mirrors, Windows, and Sliding Glass Doors.”

Twitter: @RascofromRIF

Filed under: Children's Books, RIF Multicultural Literacy Campaign, Wednesday Window

Tags: Christopher Paul Curtis, The Watsons Go To Birmingham