A review by literallykaren
The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis

4.0

I really like this book! I remembered almost nothing from when my class read it in 8th grade. I remember sort of feeling lost while we read it, but my memory is poor enough that I'm not sure if that's because of the book or if it's because I missed some of class or if it's because my teacher that year was constantly in and out of the hospital and who knows what the reading schedule was like. For some reason, at my library, we keep this in the children's section instead of the young adult section. I think this story would be better for teens or older. Not because it's inappropriate for children or because they can't comprehend it, but rather if a child is going to tackle this story, they need someone to read it alongside them who can explain to them the context of the story. For the most part, this is a sweet story about a loving family, but at one point towards the end of the book, the path of this family crosses the path of a horrible real life history event - the 16th street Baptist church bombing. The book doesn't explain much about it, but instead it focuses on the aftermath for this family and the child who witnessed it. By then, you're already so deeply involved in this family, that the historical context becomes very real and the fallout from that is felt deeply.

Lastly, I remember 20 years ago not understanding the Wool Pooh, and I have to say I don't get it any better today than I did then.