ISBN: 044022800X.
This book is about an African-American family from Michigan who decide to take a family vacation to Birmingham. The story is told through the eyes of the middle child, Kenny, who is ten years old.
The book appears to accurately reflect the attitudes and ways of life of African-Americans in the sixties and the time period seems to be well researched. The author is certainly qualified, considering the book is a Newbery Honor book and the author has received the Newbery Medal for a different book. The book is a good balance of fact and fiction. The reader gets so caught up in the quirkiness of the Watson family and their interactions with one another, that he or she forgets the book is historical at all.
The time and place are explicit and vividly described. For instance, on the family's road trip to Birmingham, they stop at a rest stop in Ohio to eat and go to the bathroom. This area is vividly described as having buildings that are log cabins and the toilets are just holes in the ground, which seems unlikely, but I speak from personal experience when I say that there were still rest stops like that in Ohio in the 1980's. Another way that the time is described is through the purchase of the ultra-glide for the family car. This is basically a portable record player that goes in a car that was a really big deal back in the 60's.
The characters are richly developed, real and believable. It's easy to identify with the characters because they are so believable. Kenny wants to fit in but feels different because of his lazy eye. He likes to antagonize his brother and is gullible. Byron is quite different from Kenny, but also easy to identify with. He acts wild and rebellious, but deep down loves his family more than anything and watches out for his younger siblings. This is evident in the way he saves Kenny from drowning and talks him out of his depression after the bombing in Birmingham.
The plot is realistic to the time period and grows out of the characters. For instance, the reason for the trip to Birmingham is because Byron has been getting into trouble and his parents don't know what to do about him. So, they decide to go to Birmingham and see if the grandmother can straighten him out. The theme of the book is definitely one of family love and growing up. Despite Byron's constant teasing of Kenny, he defends him to the other kids at school and saves his life. By the end of the story, Byron is a different person. He has grown up and shown the importance of family love in the process.
The author's sense of humor comes through in the writing, in some of the elaborate stories that Byron tells to his younger siblings. For instance, he tells Joey and Kenny that people with southern blood in them will freeze up North, and garbage trucks are actually there to pick up dead frozen bodies off the streets in the morning. The author certainly has a unique sense of humor to have come up with some of the stories Byron comes up with. Despite the author's sense of humor, it's apparent that careful research was done while writing the book. The author makes note of the civil rights struggles that were going on in the South, but doesn't overwhelm the reader with these historical details.
This story certainly isn't sugar coated. The author includes the actual church bombing that killed four African-American girls in the plot of the story. Joey almost dies in the bombing which shows readers the sad reality that anyone can suffer because of prejudice, even innocent children. The story is entertaining and hilarious while it teaches about history at the same time. Children and adults will enjoy reading about the crazy Watsons.
