The Watsons Go To Birmingham - 1963

**Author: Christopher Paul Curtis**

**Illustrator: N/A**

**Guided Reading** **Level: U**

**Lexile: 1000**

**Interest Level: Gr. 4-8**

**Genre: Historical Fiction**

**Identity Group: African-American**

**Themes: Family, Civil Rights, Bullying, Violence, Humor, Challenge and Triumph**

**Summary:**

**"**Enter the world of ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. When Momma and Dad decide it's time for a visit to Grandma, Dad comes home with the amazing Ultra-Glide, and the Watsons head South to Birmingham, Alabama...toward one of the darkest moments in America's history.

A hilarious, touching, and tragic novel about civil rights and the impact of violence on one African American family." - Scholastic

 **I**nstructional Suggestions:

* *Perspective:* The text is narrated by 10 year old Kenny. Have students rewrite or re-imagine scenes using perspectives of other characters to think about how the content and style might be different. (Anchor Standard: *CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.6 Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text.)*
* *Character Development:* Narrator Kenny, and his older brother Byron, offer particularly interesting ways to think about character development. In addition to thinking comparing the brothers' development over the book, you could think about how events and other characters impact the growth of each brother. A character grid, or comparative character map, would be a useful graphic organizer. *(Anchor Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.R.3 Analyze how and why individuals, events, or ideas develop and interact over the course of a text.)*
* *Reveal the Tableau:* Either select, or have students select, significant scenes from text. In small groups, students prepare and perform a tableau based on scene using only their bodies, facial expressions and simple props. Group guess what scene it is, makes suggestions for how to improve/change tableau, and group

* Civil Rights: Book offers excellent entry point into discussion segregation, discrimination, racism, and violence in the Civil Rights Movement. Contextualizing the September 1963 bombing of a church in Birmingham will be important to help children understand and make meaning out of the book, particularly the final chapters.
* Great Migration: The historical context of the African American Great Migration from the rural south to urban industrial centers in the North could be explored through the novel. The Watson's live in the automobile-industry drive Flint, MI, but Momma is originally from Alabama.
* Poverty: The introduction of the character Rufus (Ch. 2-5) and the discussion of welfare (Ch. 6) offer pathways into discussions around issues of poverty and government food assistance.
* U.S. Geography: The Watson's journey takes them from Michigan through Alabama. Connections with maps, geographic features, or state boundaries could be discussed.
* Michigan History: Automotive industry in Flint,

**Arts:**

* Music: Popular music from the 1960s is featured prominently in the book. Student could explore particular songs or artists mentioned throughout the book.

**Math:**

* Calculate total distance of journey from Flint to Birmingham. Calculate rate and speed at which they traveled.

**Vocabulary:**

Some possible vocab words from the text include:

* hostile
* generate
* intimidate
* emulate
* imitate
* haphazardly
* pervasive
* seniority
* discriminate
* segregate

**Family/Community Connections:**

* Many of the book's best chapters center around humorous episodes involving the members of the tight-knit "Weird Watsons". Students could draw upon their own family experiences or ask to think about what stories make their family strange, interesting, or funny.

**Resources:**

Scholastic's *The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963* Bookfile. Offers some excellent companion texts and ideas to the novel. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/asset/file/watsons-bookfiles.pdf