1963: A Year of Dinosaurs, Nazis, Record Players, Bombs, and Bullies

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 out of the pillowcase.

Kenny is the middle child in the family sometimes known as "The Weird Watsons." They're not really that weird, though, just interesting. For instance, Kenny's older brother Byron is "an official juvenile delinquent," while little sister Joey likes pretty dresses and screaming to Momma when the boys are mean to her. Then there's Momma, who grew up in the south and still can't adjust to the "igloo" of Flint, Michigan. And Dad is the jolly father who enjoys laughing at his children's antics and rocking out to the new Ultra-Glide record player he's installed in the car.

Kenny, the narrator, is the typical fourth-grade boy...if there's any such thing as a fourth-grader who's typical. He keeps himself entertained with plastic dinosaur wars, surviving the school bullies, and antagonizing Byron. The Watsons centers mainly on his activities at home and during school: Kenny describes day-to-day life by the hilariosities and problems he encounters, like the time Byron freezes his lips to the car mirror, or the time he has to escape Larry Dunn's Maytag Washes: He wasn't happy taking a handful of snow and smashing it in your face and running off. Each part had a different name and that wash wasn't done until you went through the final spin and had snow in every part of your face.

Then there are the more serious moments, like Byron setting toy parachute men on fire and letting them sizzle in the toilet. These are the issues that lead Momma and Dad to plan a trip to Birmingham: hundreds of miles in the Brown Bomber, accompanied by Yakety-Yak and a drooling little sister. The trip is intended to straighten Byron out, but once they actually hit Alabama, Byron isn't the only one who has to face life-changing episodes.

The Watsons, while addressing the serious issues of racism, family, and loyalty, does so in such a charming and hilarious manner that you can't help feeling like part of the action. Seriously, the chapters have titles like Every Chihuahua in America Lines Up to Take a Bite out of Byron and Froze-Up Southern Folks.

Author Christopher Paul Curtis does a wonderful job relating the tale from the fourth-grade perspective. While the reading is pretty easy and moves along quickly, it is definitely a layered text. On the surface, we see the minor events that make up Kenny's day. If we look more deeply, though, we can see glimpses of 1963 society peeking through. For example, it doesn't seem to matter in Michigan that the Watsons are a black family. In Birmingham, though, they are thrust into the racism issues they only had to watch about on TV before.

Curtis captures glimpses of southern culture, along with dialogue of the era, including insults like "them jive squares." Along with that, he captures the innocence of children who can't see beyond the moment into a world bigger than themselves. That viewpoint is such a refreshing mode of transport into an age that seemed so much easier, when all you had to worry about was keeping your toys hidden from the thieving next-door neighbor: My dinosaurs weren't even in their graves for three hours before someone rolled their rocks away. Maybe it was a lot easier for a bunch of angels to get a million dinosaurs to heaven than it was to get the saver of the world there, but I wished they'd given me a couple more hours.

And Kenny isn't the only character with any depth. Joey isn't just the whiny little sister; she has her sweet side, as well. Byron, though infamous for making the wrong move, still genuinely loves his siblings. Although he'd usually prefer to give them Maytag Washes of his own, he's also willing to stand up for them if someone should get in the way. Momma and Daddy are more than laughing parents; they laugh at their childrens' stupidity, but they also encourage their playfulness and step in when they need to. They're wise parents willing to go the extra mile to reinforce their kids' dreams...and take action when those dreams are too off-the-wall.

There are a few usages of inappropriate language, along with a strange scene about Momma trying to burn Byron's fingers to teach him about the dangers of fire. Those things aside, the Watsons' trip to Birmingham is endearing, a little historical, sympathetic, original, and fun. I'd smash into the backseat of the Brown Bomber with the Watsons anytime.