The Watsons Go to Birmingham
by Paul Curtis
The book is based in Flint, Michigan, with the
narrator, Kenny, introducing his family in a cold house on the couch
huddled up together, the "Weird Watsons'". His family includes his dad,
his mom, older brother Byron, nicknamed By, and their younger sister
Joetta, nicknamed Joey. This section is largely a description of the
Watsons' family life: Byron kissing his reflection in a car mirror in
January and freezing his lips to the chilled glass, Kenny's friend LJ
stealing many of Kenny's toy dinosaurs, the countrified new kids at
school, and Byron's sliding into friendship with the bad element in
town. It is this last episode that prompts the main conflict in the
story, as Byron's behavior worsens. Ultimately he is caught again
playing with matches despite having been warned repeatedly against doing
just this.
At this point, the family decides Byron should live with his Grandma
Sands in Alabama for the Summer and if things don't work out he'll stay
there for the next school year. It is, however, when the grandmother's
church is bombed that the family decides to return home, with Byron, in
an attempt to avoid explaining the full implications of what has
happened to the children.
Kenny, having never encountered racism
of this magnitude before, is unable to process what has happened—he ran
to the church moments after the bombing took place as he believed his
sister to be in the building, and saw the aftermath. As a result of the
bomb, four little girls had died, one was blinded, and one had to have
one of her eyes removed. Byron does his best to help Kenny understand
what has happened, as the parents are reluctant to explain. Kenny sees
that though the world is not perfect, he has to keep pushing on.
