Review: Curtis, C. P. (2000). The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963: A novel.
Curtis, C. P. (2000). The Watsons go to Birmingham--1963: A novel. New York, NY: Dell Laurel Leaf.
The Watsons Go To Birmingham--1963 is a work of historical fiction, showing the events of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963 through the eyes of ten-year-old Kenny Watson. Curtis gives a realistic voice to Kenny’s narration of the events of that summer, beginning with the “Weird Watsons” driving to his grandmother’s home in the south, and ending with a child’s limited understanding of the events of that day, and the ensuing mental pain and trauma it causes him.
A typical middle child, Kenny is protective, if not sometimes annoyed by his little sister Joey; he is frequently hassled and confounded by his “juvenile delinquent” older brother Byron. Highly intelligent but physically small, he is bullied in school, but later makes a true friend; however, he is puzzled by what he has done to offend this friend, though the reasons should be inferred by the reader--a device frequently employed by Curtis throughout the story. The Watson children’s parents are funny, attentive and nurturing, and though they argue the attributes of the north versus the south, Momma is for one pleased to leave behind the cold of Michigan to visit her mother in her hometown of Birmingham when they decide to let Grandma Sands take a stab at setting Byron straight. Though the trip is “about two million miles” by Kenny’s estimation, they set off in the family car, the Brown Bomber, with its newly-installed, “drive-around” dashboard record player to deliver By and spend a few days in Alabama.
It is during this visit that the historical church bombing happens, with the 16th Street Baptist Church being portrayed as Grandma’s church. Kenny feels odd that morning as he sees Joey off the Sunday School; she leaves with the neighbors, but he goes back to bed. It’s then that he feels more than hears the explosion, “like a far-off thunderstorm coming” (182). Momentarily stunned after hearing the news of the bomb from a neighbor, Kenny mentally shuts out the noises and horrors as a coping mechanism, thinking his “ears couldn’t take it so they just stopped listening”; he approaches the pile of rubble at the front of the church, “kind of surprised” no adults stop him, though they are of course too shocked and grieved to notice him (184). What he discovers is a horrific scene that his ten-year-old mind cannot truly process, and though four girls really did lose their lives in the terrorist attack, the fictional Joetta Watson is not among them.
This is very real and difficult subject matter for children, and as such, Kenny suffers psychological distress upon their return home, frequently hiding in a fetal position in the darkness behind the sofa, until Byron discovers his hiding place and begins to slowly coax him out. Here the real tenets of family are revealed, that brothers are always there for one another in times of true need. While the historical events of the story may be troublesome for children to process, this novel has repeatedly proven capable of capturing young imaginations and presenting reality in a more accessible way. These are important events during a tumultuous time in recent American history, during which “heroic people died in the struggle for civil rights” as the author states in an epilogue, and he has aptly approached the formidable task of presenting them to a younger generation with warmth and relevancy.
A typical middle child, Kenny is protective, if not sometimes annoyed by his little sister Joey; he is frequently hassled and confounded by his “juvenile delinquent” older brother Byron. Highly intelligent but physically small, he is bullied in school, but later makes a true friend; however, he is puzzled by what he has done to offend this friend, though the reasons should be inferred by the reader--a device frequently employed by Curtis throughout the story. The Watson children’s parents are funny, attentive and nurturing, and though they argue the attributes of the north versus the south, Momma is for one pleased to leave behind the cold of Michigan to visit her mother in her hometown of Birmingham when they decide to let Grandma Sands take a stab at setting Byron straight. Though the trip is “about two million miles” by Kenny’s estimation, they set off in the family car, the Brown Bomber, with its newly-installed, “drive-around” dashboard record player to deliver By and spend a few days in Alabama.
It is during this visit that the historical church bombing happens, with the 16th Street Baptist Church being portrayed as Grandma’s church. Kenny feels odd that morning as he sees Joey off the Sunday School; she leaves with the neighbors, but he goes back to bed. It’s then that he feels more than hears the explosion, “like a far-off thunderstorm coming” (182). Momentarily stunned after hearing the news of the bomb from a neighbor, Kenny mentally shuts out the noises and horrors as a coping mechanism, thinking his “ears couldn’t take it so they just stopped listening”; he approaches the pile of rubble at the front of the church, “kind of surprised” no adults stop him, though they are of course too shocked and grieved to notice him (184). What he discovers is a horrific scene that his ten-year-old mind cannot truly process, and though four girls really did lose their lives in the terrorist attack, the fictional Joetta Watson is not among them.
This is very real and difficult subject matter for children, and as such, Kenny suffers psychological distress upon their return home, frequently hiding in a fetal position in the darkness behind the sofa, until Byron discovers his hiding place and begins to slowly coax him out. Here the real tenets of family are revealed, that brothers are always there for one another in times of true need. While the historical events of the story may be troublesome for children to process, this novel has repeatedly proven capable of capturing young imaginations and presenting reality in a more accessible way. These are important events during a tumultuous time in recent American history, during which “heroic people died in the struggle for civil rights” as the author states in an epilogue, and he has aptly approached the formidable task of presenting them to a younger generation with warmth and relevancy.
For more from Christopher Paul Curtis click here.
Comments
Post a Comment