The Watson's Go To Birmingham - 1963

After hearing an amazing 4th grade reading teacher say, "We're reading the WAT-sons GO TO BIRMINGHAM!!" for the past 2 years, I finally picked up a copy of the book and read it...AND I LOVED IT!

Narrated by a boy who's brother is a juvenile delinquent, Christopher Paul Curtis does an amazing job at telling the story of a family from Flint, Michigan taking a summer trip to Birmingham in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement. The events leading up to the road trip are SO FUNNY!! Events do turn and things get serious because the family goes to....Birmingham...in 1963.

I especially like the way Christopher Paul personifies death. WOW. Like I tell my kids, "You just have to read it for yourself. It's so good!"

To get you warmed up, you can read about the author Christopher Paul Curtis here. And you can listen to a song by Joan Baez that is related to an event mentioned in the book here. And a poem that inspired the author to make his novel HISTORICAL fiction, and is sure to move you here.

Once you read it, tell me what you think!!

Oh, yes, there's a movie. But you MUST read the book first. I'm going to find the movie soon.