Below is a book review of our next class novel by By
Elizabeth Bird
Curtis has the ability to make you laugh and cry and think deeply about something, all within a few pages. – Heather Christensen
The character voices are so charming and right on. It sweeps you
up in this funny tale of a loving and slightly wacky family – until a
tragedy pulls everything out from underneath you. As it should. – Emily Myhr
It was the book that took Christopher Paul Curtis off the assembly
line and into libraries. I once read or saw an interview with him
where he discussed this title. Essentially he said that while authors
aren’t supposed to say which of their books is their “favorite” his
will always be
The Watsons since it changed his life in one fell swoop. It may surprise some people to see
The Watsons coming in well above
Bud Not Buddy on this list, but for most people this is the Curtis book that will always be first in their hearts.
The plot description from the publisher reads, “Enter the hilarious
world of 10-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint,
Michigan. There’s Momma, Dad, little sister Joetta, and brother Byron,
who’s 13 and an ‘official juvenile delinquent.’ When Momma and Dad
decide it’s time for a visit to Grandma, Dad comes home with the amazing
Ultra-Glide, and the Watsons set out on a trip like no other. They’re
heading South. They’re going to Birmingham, Alabama, toward one of the
darkest moments in America’s history.”
In
Funny Business: Conversations With Writers of Comedy by
Leonard Marcus we get the true scoop behind this book’s creation.
“After reading several of his letters, Kay Sookram, his Canadian
girlfriend and future wife, told Curtis firmly that he
should
be a writer. He had begun to think so too.” Fast forward ten years
into the future and, “Curtis’s career took off when an unpublished
version of
The Watsons took first place in a writing contest
and he was offered a contract to publish his novel.” Nicely done!
Wonder what that writing contest was.
In 1996 it won a Newbery Honor, beaten only by
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman. It also won a Coretta Scott King Award that year.
By the way, Mr. Curtis has just the loveliest things to say about teachers as part of the publisher’s
Teachers Guide online:
“What a thrill the publication of
The Watson’s Go to Birmingham–1963
has been for me! I’ve been asked many times what the highlight of this
experience has been and I don’t have to think at all before answering.
It occurred on February 15, 1996 at a reception given by the Flint
Public Library when, to my complete surprise and delight, I was
introduced by my third-grade teacher, Ms. Suzanne Henry. It wasn’t the
fact that in her introduction she gave me a gold star and told everyone
that I was Room C’s “Good Citizen of the Day” that affected me so–it
was the surprise I felt on realizing that she had always been such an
important and powerful part of my life. I hadn’t seen Ms. Henry for more
than 35 years, and I had spent only nine months of my life with her
when I was 7 or 8–yet as she told everyone gathered in the library how
proud of me she was, I found myself near tears.
For homefun next week the students will create a Character
Trait Body Description.
·
Students
will choose a character from our current class novel; The Watsons go to Birmingham-1963 to create a Character Trait Body
Description. Be sure to analyze your characters
·
Traits
·
Motivations
·
Conflicts
·
Points
of View
·
Relationships
·
Changes
they undergo
·
What
they hear, see, feel, say, and do
To color the
clothing, use color pencils or markers. You may also glue on different colors
of construction paper, or use pieces of fabric.
Make a head
and neck for your charcter using construction paper. You may use yarn for your
character's hair. Then make hands, hands, legs, and shoes for your character.
