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Christopher Paul Curtis

The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963

Author Notes

• The first African-American to win both the Newbery & Coretta Scott King awards (2000)

• Born May 10, 1953. • After high school he worked in a automobile

factory while going to college. • He wrote the book on his breaks from the

automobile assembly line.

• He now lives in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, • He has wife and two children.

1. Basketball

2. Collecting old record albums

Christopher Paul Curtis’s Hobbies

Awards for his book published in 1995.

1995 - Runner-up for the Coretta Scott King award for excellence by an African-American writer

1995 – Runner-up for the Newbery award

Winner 2000 - ALA Best Books for Young Adults

Winner 2000 - ALA Notable Children's Books

Winner 2000 - California Young Reader Medal

The Watsons Go to Birmingham ---1963

by Christopher Paul Curtis

•Centers around Kenny Watson - ten years old and knows why his family is called “The Weird Watsons”

•His family leaves Flint, Michigan, to visit their Grandmother in Birmingham, Alabama.

•The book is set in the year 1963. Many things are happening in the United States related to Civil Rights during this time.

•Kenny’s family consists of his older, bully of a brother called Byron and his younger, pesky sister Joey.

During the visit to Birmingham, a church was bombed (In real life it was the 16th Street Baptist Church)

4 little girls were killed in the church bombing---------------

Oh no, where is Joey, Kenny’s little sister, after the bomb went off. She had gone to that very church!

How do we interview

books?

Introducing A Novel

Author Notes

Background Notes

Novel Facts

Book Interview

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: Background

After the Civil War, laws and constitutional amendments were passed to give equal rights to African Americans, but the laws were often ignored, especially in the South.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: Background

For many years, African Americans in the South had to live with segregation.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: Background

This meant African Americans had to use separate bathrooms, water fountains, beaches, and other public facilities.

African Americans were also forced to ride in a different section of busses and go to separate schools.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963: Background

People like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr., held sit-ins and protests, gave speeches, organized boycotts, and formed organizations to help people fight for equality.

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Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

• Birmingham Civil Rights Institute

• Scholastic Timeline

1963 - Alabama

• May – During civil rights protests in Birmingham, Ala., Commissioner of Public Safety Eugene "Bull"

Connor uses fire hoses and police dogs on black demonstrators. These images of brutality, which are televised and published widely, are instrumental in gaining sympathy for the civil rights movement around the world.

• June 12 – (Jackson, Miss.) Mississippi's NAACP field secretary, 37-year-old Medgar Evers, is murdered

outside his home. Byron De La Beckwith is tried twice in 1964, both trials resulting in hung juries. Thirty years later he is convicted for murdering Evers.

• Aug. 28

– (Washington, D.C.) About 200,000 people join the March on Washington. Congregating at the Lincoln Memorial, participants listen as Martin Luther King delivers his famous "I Have a Dream" speech.

• Sept. 15 – (Birmingham, Ala.) Four young girls (Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, and

Addie Mae Collins) attending Sunday school are killed when a bomb explodes at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, a popular location for civil rights meetings. Riots erupt in Birmingham, leading to the deaths of two more black youths.

The Book Interview

1. Front Cover / Back Cover What does the title imply about the story? What else do you notice about the cover? Read the back cover blurb. What stands out to you? Why?

2. Images What images do you see? What do they tell you about the story? Author?

3. About the Author What facts about the author will influence the book?

Explain.

4. Random Page What did you read? What is happening?

Watsons Go to Birmingham

Literary Devices

Setting

• The setting of a novel refers to the time and place the events occur.

• What is the setting of our novel?– The setting of Flint, Michigan - 1963.

Hook

• An interesting first sentence or paragraph in a novel that grabs the reader’s attention.

• Reread the first paragraph. How does this hook draw you into the novel?

Point of view

• Point of view refers to the person telling the story.

• What Point of View is “Watsons” told?

• First Person Point of View.

• We are learning about the events as Kenny experiences them.

• “I”, “My”, “We”…

Figurative Language

• COMPARISONS:• Simile - comparison using “ like or as”• Metaphor - implied comparison in which one

thing is called another.• Hyperbole – comparison using exaggeration.

Find 2 Examples on Page 1

Cliffhanger

• A cliffhanger – a moment of heightened suspense or tension. Encourages the reader to continue reading.

Foreshadowing

• Foreshadowing refers to clues an author gives to suggest what may happen later in the novel.

• What do you think might be foreshadowed by Mr. Robert’s story about saving his dog from drowning?

Mood

• Mood is a feeling an author creates through carefully chosen words and phrases, settings, and events.– Reread Chapter Fourteen. Where does the

mood change?– Why was a change of mood necessary at this

point in the novel?

Conflict

• Conflict, or the clash of opposing forces, takes many forms in literature and often provides the excitement in a novel.

• Types of conflict:– Person vs. Person– Person vs. Nature– Person vs. Self