author:  christopher paul curtis

story summary:

    the book begins in flint, michigan, where ten year old kenny lives with his family. Kenny is a good student but has a lazy eye. so he is always getting teased by kids at school.  some kids at call his family the weird watsons.  a kid from arkansas moves in and the other kids start to tease rufus. Rufus and Kenny become friends and so kenny gets teased more then he did before.  Kenny’s older brother, byron, was a bully and did not like to work so he skipped school and got into a lot of trouble.

 

   the watsons go to birmingham after byron, kennys older brother, is getting into a bunch of trouble.  Momma and Papa watson decide to go to birmingham, alabama to leave Byron with grandma Sands, so he gets straightened out.  when they get there, byron gets better but kenny starts to get in trouble.  Kenny is saved by his brother Byron when he almost drowns in a whirlpool.

    A couple of days later kenny is resting under a tree in the back of grandma Sands yard when he hears a BIG boom.  the church where Kenny’s little sister, joetta, was attending sunday school was blown up by a drive by bomb.  Kenny ran to the church and finds one joetta’s shoes in the rubble.  Kenny takes the shoe and thinks joetta is dead.  it turns out that joetta did not get hurt.

    the watsons went back to flint, Michigan. kenny had a hard time dealing with the bombing so he spent a lot of time hiding behind the couch where he could hear his mom and dad talking.  in the end, byron helps kenny deal with his feelings about the bombing.