The Watsons Kept My Interest and Stole My Heart

I've read quite a few kid books recently and The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 has easily become one of my favorites. Told through the eyes of a ten-year-old Kenny Watson, we learn to love all about the quirks of his family - the 'Weird Watsons' - while understanding the message of unconditional / familial love and how to cope with the unexpected.

Most of the juicy action revolves around the older brother, Byron, an "official juvenile delinquent" who is constantly ditching school, picking on little kids, playing with fire (literally setting tissue parachutes on fire to flush down the toilet), and gettiing sick after eating too many stolen vanilla creme cookies. Author Chris Curtis describes Byron's mis-adventures with hilarious detail in a way that only little borther (Kenny) who is both terrified of and idolizes can.

When the juvenile delinquent decides to get a conk (this is the '60's) and lighten his hair, his parents, already at their wits' end, decide to deliver him to his discliplinarian grandmother in Alabama. The Watsons are going on a road trip.

Once they reach the South, they are faced with something more serious. I got so caught up in the funny adventures of the Watsons that the climax actually took me by surprise. The juxtaposition of a realistically hilarious family and the serious events that unfolded during the civil rights era is dramatically effective. Curtis does an exemplary job telling this story from a kid's perspective; I feel it's one that both kids (aged 12 and up) and adults will respond to.

I've only read one other historical novel for kids that takes place during the same time period, Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. It pales in comparison. The Watsons held my interest, laughing out loud, dying to know what would happen next. While this is a historical book, it also touches on present-day issues like sibling rivalry, bullies at school, poverty, and trauma. It seems like there are so many issues at various levels going on but Curtis weaves them together magically.