A wonderful middle-grade novel narrated by Kenny, 9, about his middle-class black family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. I grew up in a family of five children — two boys and three girls. But then Bud kind of emerged as the narrator, and the story took off from there. In 1953, Christopher Paul Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan, the same city where the story's family, the Watsons, live. Gundersen, Kathryn. I love it. In the meantime, I went to a family reunion and started hearing about my grandfather, Herman E. Curtis, and his band called the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. Buphead is Byron's partner in crime, who also likes to make fun of Kenny. Rufus is a boy who comes from the South and who becomes close to Kenny. Just like Bud and the Watson kids, I was born in Flint, Michigan. The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 essays are academic essays for citation. To keep myself awake, I started thinking about this family (who later became the Weird Watsons of Flint.) I ended up working there for 13 years, hanging doors on big Buicks. In 1954, Christopher Paul Curtis, son of Herman and Leslie Curtis, was born in Flint, Michigan, and like the characters in The Watsons Go to Birmingham—2963, Curtis grew up there. That's when I knew I wanted the Watsons to go to Birmingham instead. The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 was Christopher Paul Curtis's first novel, earning him a Newbery Honor, a Coretta Scott King (wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) Honor, and the Golden Kite Award. Updated and revised by Patrick Kennedy October 11, 2015. The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 study guide contains a biography of Christopher Paul Curtis, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. Kay's sister had moved to Florida, and we decided to drive there. But particularly to young black kids, where they have somebody that they can look at and say, 'You know, that’s me. copyright held by GradeSaver. The Question and Answer section for The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 is a great Not affiliated with Harvard College. Download the PDF from here. I grew up in a family of five children — two boys and three girls. "The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 Bibliography". When Kenny's 13-year-old brother, Byron, gets to be too much trouble, they head South to Birmingham to visit Grandma, the one person who can shape him up. I got the idea for the book from a trip I took with my own family several years before. "Civil Rights Timeline. If I knew it was this much fun, I would have started when I was 4. Encouraged by his wife Kaysandra, Curtis eventually left his factory job to focus on writing, and this allowed him to complete his first book, Curtis has explained how the book's main character Kenny is "kind of a combination of myself and my brother David," and how Kenny's little sister Joey "is a lot like my sister Cydney" (, As a child, Curtis "didn't find books, 'that were about me'" (Lamb, 2000, p. 398). The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 Author's Note The Joy of Family and Writing Just like Bud and the Watson kids, I was born in Flint, Michigan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Paul_Curtis. It was not until Curtis's son brought home Dudley Randall's poem, that "he knew the family wanted to go to Birmingham" (. Create your own unique website with customizable templates. GradeSaver, 11 October 2015 Web. The Watsons is based a lot on my own family when I was growing up. Curtis also wrote the Newbery Award-winning novel Bud, Not Buddy; Elijah of Buxton, and The Mighty Miss Malone. "The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963. I was always a very good reader and a good writer, but when I was in school there was a different emphasis placed on writing. View not found. Writing took my mind off the assembly line. I used my time to write in my journal. Delaying his pursuit of a college education, he went to work on the assembly line at the Fisher Body Automobile … Curtis’ debut novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, received both a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor in 1996. As you can tell from my books, family is very important to me. These were the first seeds of the book. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. Completed on March 12, 2015, That’s something dealing with me'", Florida? Borgna Brunner, Elissa Haney. I hated being in the factory. We all excelled in school and were very involved in youth theater; I didn't know at the time, though, that I would become a writer. It tells the story of 10-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan, and their unforgettable journey that leads them into one of the darkest moments in … Enter the hilarious world of ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. Otherwise, Rufus has difficulty making friends. Kathryn Gundersen, author of ClassicNote. His first novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, was also singled out for many awards, among them a Newbery Honor and a Coretta Scott King Honor, and has been a bestseller in hardcover and paperback. His wife planned the trip in great detail similar to the mother in the book, and like the father, Curtis thought, "No, no, I want to see if I can drive twenty-four hours in a row" (Scholastic, 2016). After high school I went to the University of Michigan-Flint for one year and then got a summer job on the assembly line at General Motor's Fisher Body plant. For a political science class I had begun doing research about the sit-down strikes in the 1930's at Fisher Body. While it did not win, it caught the attention of a Delacorte editor, and was published.

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