Christopher Paul Curtis - Watsons Go To Birmingham-1963

Pros: Strong characters, hilarious story, deals nicely with with hard issues

Cons: Minor language issues

The Bottom Line: This is one of the best fiction pieces I've read in a long time.

Review: My dinosaurs show back and got twenty of his with a hand grenade. The battle was going great! Dinosaurs were falling rigt, left and center. We had a great big pile of dead dinosaurs off to the side and had to keep shaking more and more reinforcements ...

Pros: hilarious, rich with issues

Cons: minor bad language

The Bottom Line: Read this book!

Review: I've read quite a few kid books recently and The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 has easily become one of my favorites. Told through the eyes of a ten-year-old Kenny Watson, we learn to love all about the quirks of his family - the 'Weird ...

Pros: Great balance of humor and drama to convey a very human experience.

Cons: My students were a bit confused by the ending.

The Bottom Line: Absolutely every single person in America should read this book because it is so well-written and important.

Review: I have always wanted to read this book with my students. So when I moved to a new state, and a new school, I was thrilled to find a class set of this book in the school's possession. I quickly jumped on the idea of lessons surrounding this book. ...

Pros: Skillful depiction of comedy and historical drama. An important book.

Cons: None.

The Bottom Line: The back cover recommends this for ages 10 and up - I would still read it first before handing it over to a 10-year old.

Review: In a sometimes episodic depiction of a Northern black family in the 60s, Christopher Paul Curtis has managed to create probably one of the funniest and saddest young adult books of the 20th century. First published in 1998 (and republished by Laurel ...

Pros: Good voice, funny plot

Cons: A few disgusting details

Review: People don't expect historical fiction to be fun, but this one is. The Weird Watson's, as they are called, get into all sorts of comical adventures. This is mostly due to the eldest, Byron, who is a 'juvenile delinquent'. From getting his lips stuck...

Pros: great historical fiction, comical, easy to relate to

Cons: deals with some racial issues that students need to be able to understand

Review: This is the second book that I have read from this author and I am more impressed with him than ever. I think it is so wonderful that he is writing quality literature with the main characters being African-American. The covers themselves will draw...