The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963
Ratings31
Average rating4.1
I really love how the author draws you into the Watson family slowly but surely. I also love any book that has me going to the wiki to find out more info about an intriguing subject (for this book I couldn't resist looking up conks).
A solid juvenile historical fiction novel. The Watsons are a charming, funny family. The civil rights movement history seemed slightly tacked-on, but overall a pretty good read.
This book had an excellent ending but it just could not make up for its earlier transgressions. I thought it was a bit of a slow read and I did not even like the characters that much. I thought this whole book was going to be about the trip to Birmingham but it took them a very very long time to get on the road. I really just did not care about everything that happened before they started talking about going to Birmingham.
When it comes to historical fiction books, this is one that I consider a classic. It has a funny family and good scenes that display how the family loves one another. Yet, this book does have a few flaws that does not make this book perfect for me.
The strongest point of this book is Curtis' writing of ten year old Kenny. The author has the ability to accurately portray what life is like for a ten year old boy and have it be not only convincing but funny as well. The writing style was not something that annoyed me, which can be easy to do. The exaggerations and imagery that children can use to describe situations, when written by an adult author, can be very easy to mess up (I'm thinking of The Wednesday Wars by Gary D Schmidt, for example). Yet, Curtis manages to do this very well. It does not get overbearing, and I always enjoyed them when they appeared, as they were often humorous in nature.
Another element that is easy for writer's to get wrong is the writing of older siblings. When trying to write them, you want to make them both sympathetic in nature and also somewhat antagonistic. In other words, when you have a sibling, on many days you may want to kill them, but on others, you can't imagine life without them, and it is this complex relationship that Curtis explains well with the relationship between Byron and Kenny. I found many of their tails to both relatable, touching, and funny all at the same time. It was definitely the highlight of the book for me.
And as a side note, the audiobook is read by none other than Geordi La Forge himself, LeVar Burton. He does an excellent job and really manages to bring out the humor in the situations the weird Watsons find themselves in.
Yet, there are some things that stop this book from being perfect. One would be the very nature of the book itself. This book is told not in the straightforward for of a complete narrative, but in a series of vignettes that display the adventures of the weird Watsons. These are good, but they did tend to drag from time to time. Also, they do not really have anything to do with the overarching plot of the story, especially with what happens in Alabama, which some people may find annoying.
Yet, this book stands out as a classic in my eyes. It is fun and unique to me and is one that I know I will enjoy for years to come. I give it a five out of five.
My 11-year old quasi-stepson's literature class read this book and I decided to read along with him.
While I thought the book would be good, I was blown away by the author's ability to combine the pathos of growing up a middle child and one with a few physical differences that made him the target of bullies.
There are some great family scenes with beautifully drawn characters that leap off the page at you. I also laughed out loud at so many points and found myself crying at others.
This is a great book for middle grade readers up to adults and I look forward to other reads from Christopher Paul Curtis.