By Simran Jayasinghe
The Watsons go to Birmingham is a book about a family named the Watsons and their trip to Birmingham. Their neighbors in Flint, Michigan call them the Weird Watsons, because many things that they do seem weird and mysterious to their neighbors. The Watson family consists of Kenny, who is the person telling the story, Byron, and Joetta. Byron is Kenny’s older brother and is thirteen. Byron is an ‘official juvenile delinquent’ according to Kenny, and Kenny is bullied by Byron and his friends. Joetta, who’s nickname is Joey, is Kenny’s younger sister. Joetta strongly supports Byron and even tries to stop their mother from disciplining Byron when he is caught playing with matches. The family owns one brown car which they call the Brown Bomber. The family travels to Birmingham in this car to see their Grandma Sands. They hope that Grandma Sands will help Byron calm down a little bit. They go to Birmingham in the summer. When in Birmingham, scary things happen that do indeed calm Byron down. To learn more about these scary happenings, read the book!
This story is about a loving family and their triumphs, scares, travels, and difficulties. I would give this book a 6 out of 10 because the vocabulary could have been better, and the point the book was trying to get across was a little hard to understand at times.