History Literature / TheWatsonsGoToBirmingham1963

The year is 1963 in Flint, Michigan, and Kenneth "Kenny" Watson thinks that his bullying older brother, Byron, is a pain in the neck who's always itching for trouble. After his misbehavior goes too far, his parents decide to spend the summer in Birmingham with Kenny's maternal grandmother to make Byron shape up. However, the timing of their road trip coincides with seething racial tensions in the DeepSouth, which are on the constant verge of imploding.

The year is 1963, and Kenneth "Kenny" Watson thinks that his bullying older brother, Byron, is a pain in the neck who's always itching for trouble. After his misbehavior goes too far, his parents decide to spend the summer in Birmingham with Kenny's maternal grandmother to make Byron shape up. However, the timing of their road trip coincides with seething racial tensions in the DeepSouth, which are on the constant verge of imploding.

* NoodleIncident: When telling Byron that he's going to stay with Grandma Sands to get straightened out, his mother lists off multiple incidents of misbehavior from him. While some of them are shown in the book (skipping school, lighting fires, exploiting his parents' food payment deal at the grocer's to scam free food out of it, getting a conk hairstyle), she mentions him having a "problem" with a girl named Mary Ann Hill that's never elaborated on.

The year is 1963, and Kenneth "Kenny" Watson thinks that his bullying older brother, Byron, is a pain in the neck who's always itching for trouble. After his misbehavior goes too far, his parents decide to spend the summer in Birmingham with Kenny's maternal grandmother to make him shape up. However, the timing of their road trip coincides with racial tensions in the DeepSouth, which are on the constant verge of imploding.

* UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny: Kenny sees his BigBrotherBully Byron meeting his cantankerous grandma for the first time as this, anticipating a massive fight between them (and even likening it to [[Film/KingKongVsGodzilla Godzilla versus King Kong]]). Needless to say, he's disappointed when Byron immediately submits to said grandma and obeys her.

''The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963'' is a [[MiddleGradeLiterature Middle Grade]] novel by Christopher Paul Curtis. It earned a Newberry Honor, a Coretta Scott King Honor, and the Golden Kite Award.

** Byron [[spoiler:goes to check on Kenny when his little brother spends months hiding behind the couch and tries to talk to him about what happened. He acknowledges there are bad people in the world, but life goes on and Kenny will be okay in the end.]]

The year is 1963, and Kenneth "Kenny" Watson thinks that his bullying older brother, Byron, is a pain in the neck who's always itching for trouble. After his misbehavior goes too far, his parents decide to spend the summer in Birmingham with Kenny's maternal grandmother to make him shape up. However, the timing of their trip coincides with racial tensions in the DeepSouth, which are on the constant verge of imploding.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Joetta (or "Joey") is this to Kenny at times, often being fussy and prone to complaining or crying. Despite this, he's terrified for her life when he can't find her in the aftermath of the bombing.

** Kenny runs into the church after the bombing happens to look for Joey. Joey later tells him that she saw him telling her to come out of the church, which she isn't aware saved her life at the time.
** Byron goes to check on Kenny when his little brother spends months hiding behind the couch and tries to talk to him about what happened. He acknowledges there are bad people in the world, but life goes on and Kenny will be okay in the end.

* CerebusSyndrome: The book begins with comedic vignettes in Kenny's life, ranging from his newfound friendship with CountryMouse Rufus Fry to Byron's getting in hot water with his mother over lighting matches in the house. The Watsons' trip to Alabama causes the story to shift to the dramatic, culminating in the Baptist Church bombing.
* CoolBigBro: Byron eventually matures into this. When he finds Kennyhiding behind the couch, Byron coaxes him out by telling him that he somehow saved Joey's life and that it wasn't his fault the bombing happened.

* DeathOfAChild: The church bombing, which kills two girls shortly after Sunday school finishes. Kenny freaks out and walks into the aftermath trying to find Joey. Then he walks home in shock, and his family is horrified that he witnessed the tragedy. His mother and father are relieved neither Kenny nor Joey was hurt, but don't know how to talk about what happened.
* DeathByNewberryMedal: Some girls get killed in the church bombing, and Kenny is terrified that Joey was caught in it with them. Even after it turns out she survived (and wasn't even in the church when it happened), Kenny is very shaken when the family returns home to Flint. When Byron talks to him about it, he admits he doesn't know why someone would want to kill little girls.

** When told by his grandmother to stay away from the whirlpool, Kenny thinks that she means "Wool-Pooh" because of her thick southern accent making it sound as such and ends up believing it's a monster in the water. Later, he thinks that the Wool-Pooh nearly killed Joey and is in HeroicBSOD about it.
** He also notes that the pets hide behind the couch and come out better. Kenny dubs the space behind the couch the "World's Best Animal Hospital" in the hopes of feeling better about what he saw.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Is the Wool-Pooh real? And if so, was it trying to kill Joey, or did it save her? Kenny thinks that the Wool-Pooh was trying to kill Joey since it was holding her sock, but she says that she saw a vision of Kenny telling her to leave the church. Plus, as Byron puts it, there's no such thing as a Wool-Pooh. So if it wasn't a monster, who told Joey to get out of the church?

The year is 1963, and Kenneth "Kenny" Watson thinks that his bullying older brother, Byron, is a pain in the neck who's always itching for trouble. After his misbehavior goes too far, his parents decide to spend the summer in Birmingham with Kenny's maternal grandmother to make him shape up. However, the timing of their trip's coincides with racial tensions in the DeepSouth on the constant verge of imploding.

The year is 1963, and Kenneth "Kenny" Watson thinks that his bullying older brother, Byron, is a pain in the neck who's always itching for trouble. After his misbehavior starts going too far, his parents decide to spend the summer in Birmingham with Kenny's maternal grandmother to make him shape up. However, the timing of their trip's coincides with racial tensions in the DeepSouth on the constant verge of imploding.

The year is 1963, and Kenny thinks that his older brother is itching for trouble. Byron is always doing dumb stuff to look cool and expects his family to bail him out. After one-too-many pranks, his parents decide to spend the summer in Birmingham to shape up Byron. It turns out their timing coincides with racial tensions in the Deep South.

** Kenny runs into the church after the bombing happens to look for Joetta. Joetta later tells him that she saw him telling her to come out of the church, which she isn't aware saved her life at the time.
** Byron goes to check on Kenny when his little brother spends months hiding behind the couch and tries to talk to him about what happened. He acknowledges there are bad people in the world.

* CoolBigBro: Byron eventually matures into this. When he finds Kenneth hiding behind the couch, Byron coaxes him by saying that Kenneth somehow saved Joetta's life and that it wasn't his fault the bombing happened.

* DeathOfAChild: The church bombing, which kills two girls shortly after Sunday school finishes. Kenny freaks out and walks into the aftermath trying to find Joetta. Then he walks home in shock, and his family is horrified that he witnessed the tragedy. His mother and father are relieved neither Kenny nor Joetta was hurt, but don't know how to talk about what happened.
* DeathByNewberryMedal: Some girls get killed in the church bombing, and Kenneth is worried that Joetta was caught in it as well. Even after it turns out Joetta was fine, Kenneth is very shaken when the family returns home to Flint. Byron admits he doesn't know why someone would want to kill little girls.

* InnocentInaccurate: Kenneth misunderstands a lot of information about the world:
** When told by his grandmother to stay away from the whirlpool, Kenny thinks that she means "Wool-Pooh" because of her thick southern accent making it sound as such and ends up believing it's a monster in the water. Later, he thinks that the Wool-Pooh nearly killed Joetta and is in HeroicBSOD about it.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Is the Wool-Pooh real? And if so, was it trying to kill Joetta, or did it save her? Kenny thinks that the Wool-Pooh was trying to kill Joetta since it was holding her sock, but she says that she saw a vision of Kenneth telling her to leave the church. Plus, as Byron puts it, there's no such thing as a Wool-Pooh. So if it wasn't a monster, who told Joetta to get out of the church?
* MoralityPet: For all his abrasive and unpleasant behavior in the beginning, Byron has a soft spot for Joetta and is never as mean to her as he is to Kenny or to other kids in general.

* TongueOnTheFlagpole: In the first chapter, Byron gets his lips stuck on the frozen car mirror while he and Kenny are supposed to be scraping ice off. His father makes fun of him for trying to kiss his reflection and cracks up over the fact that Byron's tongue ''didn't'' get stuck, meaning he didn't get [[ScrewYourself "too passionate with himself"]]. Kenny's mother is not amused, and has to free Byron by yanking him off of the mirror as hard as possible (which means he has to wear tons of Vaseline on his mouth afterwards).

* BigBrotherBully: Byron starts off as this, being a {{Jerkass}} who's obsessed with being cool, constantly picks on kids at school, and casually punches Kenny when pissed off. He gets better later on.

** When told to stay away from the whirlpool, Kenny thinks that the adults mean "Wool-Pooh" and it's a monster in the water. Later, he thinks that the Wool-Pooh nearly killed Joetta and is in HeroicBSOD about it.

** Byron goes to check on Kenny when his little brother spends months hiding behind the couch and trying to talk to him about what happened. He acknowledges there are bad people in the world.

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Joetta is this to Kenny at times, often being fussy and prone to complaining or crying. Despite this, he's terrified for her life when he can't find her in the aftermath of the bombing.

** Kenny runs into the church after the bombing happens to look for Joetta. Joetta later says that she saw Kenneth telling him to come out of the church and that saved her life.

* DeathOfAChild: The church bombing, which kills two girls shortly after Sunday School finishes. Kenny freaks out and walks into the aftermath trying to find Joetta. Then he walks home in shock, and his family is horrified that he witnessed the horrors. His mother and father are relieved neither Kenny nor Joetta was hurt but don't know how to talk about what happened.

** He also notes that the pets hide behind the couch and come out better. Kenny dubs the space behind the couch the "World' Best Animal Hospital" in the hopes of feeling better about what he saw.

* CountryMouse: Rufus Fry and his little brother Cody, the new students at Kenny's school, are hicks from the DeepSouth who wear ragged clothes, speak with obvious southern accents, and used to shoot squirrels for dinner where they used to live.

* AdultFear: The church bombing, which kills two girls shortly after Sunday School finishes. Kenny freaks out and walks into the aftermath trying to find Joetta. Then he walks home in shock, and his family is horrified that he witnessed the horrors. His mother and father are relieved neither Kenny nor Joetta was hurt but don't know how to talk about what happened.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: Is the Wool-Pooh real? And if so, was it trying to kill Joetta, or did it save her? Kenny thinks that the Wool-Pooh was trying to kill Joetta since it was holding her sock, but she says that she saw a vision of Kenneth telling her to leave the church. Plus, as Byron puts it, there's no such thing as a Wool-Pooh. So if it wasn't a monster, who told Joetta to get out of the church?

''The Watsons Go To Birmingham- 1963'' is a MiddleGrade novel by Christopher Paul Curtis. It earned a Newberry Honor, a Coretta Scott King Honor, and the Golden Kite Award.