Dara Beth's Classroom Library

The Watson's Go to Birmingham-1963 was first published by Christopher Paul Curtis in December of 1995. This story is about a family from Flint, Michigan. The story starts out telling the troubling experiences of the Watson kids (Byron, Kenny, and Joetta) at their school. After the parents have had enough, they announced that they would be traveling to Birmingham, Alabama, to visit their grandmother. One morning, Joetta also known as Joey, decides to attend church with some of her grandmothers friends. The church was the historical 16th Street Baptist Church located in Birmingham. While at church that day, a bomb exploded in the basement of the church. Needless to say, this story is based during the middle of the civil rights movement that was taking place here in the south. For an activity, I would have my students to choose a major event that occurred and was relevant to them. Ex) 9/11, major hurricanes, presidential elections. I would have the students to discuss how they felt or what they observed from their personal experiences. This book is on a 5.0 level according to the Accelerated Reader book leveling system.