The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963

For each member of the Watson family and Grandma Sands, choose the best adjective to highlight their key personality trait. Support each choice with two to three details from the story.

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 is slightly non-traditional in plot structure, in that the inciting incident for the family’s road trip (Byron’s new hairstyle) doesn’t appear until Chapter 7 (typically, an inciting incident for a traditional plotline appears much earlier). Make a list of Byron’s actions before the trip is planned and a list of Byron’s actions once the family arrives in Birmingham. Include seven to eight actions on each list. Compare your lists and discuss the nature of his “before” actions compared to his “after” actions.

Kenny mentions that he is still gullible regarding Byron’s tales but demonstrates that he is eager to grow in wisdom. What are three lessons learned by Kenny (taught by Byron or other characters) that help him to mature and become wiser? Use text details to show his growth in maturity or wisdom.

Throughout the novel, Kenny has several adversaries. Brainstorm a list of those who appear to be in opposition to Kenny in some way. Order these antagonists in terms of most to least serious. Explain your reasoning.

Describe some of the sights and sounds inside and outside of the Watsons’ car on their trip, using details from text. Discuss how this 1960s road trip is both similar to and different from a family trip of today.

In some ways, the Birmingham setting represents a greater sense of community and unity than the Flint setting. In what scenes is this apparent? What details can you offer from the text to substantiate this statement? In what ways can you argue against this generalization?

Kenny’s decision to go to Collier’s Landing and get in the water demonstrates a departure from his character’s behavior up to that point. In a T-chart, list four to five traits and/or mannerisms that describe Kenny in the novel up to the point of that decision in the first column; list the same number of traits and/or mannerisms that represent his actions just before and during the Collier’s Landing scene in the second column. Write a brief summary of your two-column comparison under your T-chart that includes book details as support.

Skim the passages in which the scene of the church bombing is described. What figurative language imagery helps the reader to visualize that scene? List four or five examples. Of those, what lines of imagery stay truest to Kenny’s voice?