The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963, Christopher Paul Curtis

This book tells the story of the Watson family (Daniel, Wilona, Kenny, Byron and Joey) who hail from Michigan but are taking a road trip to visit family in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. The Watsons are African American, and their trip to Alabama during this year develops suspense from the first page because of the connections between their destination, the year, and our knowledge of historical events that are not known by the characters we are following. As the family embarks on their journey we see not only problems within the family (mostly between older brother Byron, a bully, and his younger brother Kenny, our sort of nerdy narrator) but with the world: clearly segregation is still a problem in the South, and one that the Watson children aren't so familiar with because of their northern upbringing. The events that play out in the novel provide modern readers with an interesting insight into both the history of our country and the experience of a persecuted minority group.

I am typically very cautious in selecting literature that deals with diversity and social justice issues because their accurate representation is absolutely necessary in my opinion, and it seems that very seldom are books released that provide unbiased and accurate representations of such individuals and groups. I found that The Watsons is one of the few novels that I have read that deals with issues of segregation and oppression in a thoughtful and seemingly informed and accurate lens. I could see this book being used in literature circles or even as a class text as a gateway to consider current issues of social justice in our world, both domestic and international.