Poetry

Birmingham, 1963
by Carole Boston Weatherford

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Weatherford, Carole Boston. 2007. BIRMINGHAM, 1963. Pennsylvania: Wordsong. ISBN 9781590784402.

PLOT SUMMARY:
This historical fiction free verse tells the touching story of a fictional narrator who turns ten the day that the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church was bombed in Birmingham, Alabama. The story is told from the narration of a young girl who turns ten on the day this tragic event takes place. The book starts off talking about the year the girl turned ten as a year of major events in the Civil Rights Movement. It then transitions into an account of how these events are seen through the eyes of an innocent young girl. After discussing the tragedy itself, a description of the aftermath is told. It paints a picture of chaos and fear in this girl's world. This was a day of devastation, and it is evident in the way this story is told.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS:
The word choice allows the reader to step into the shoes of this young girl and be a member of this church. One can almost hear the screams of the other parishioners as a short description of the event unfolds. The author spends quite a bit of the short book building up to the event. She describes not only the events that led to the bombing, such as water hoses and dogs being turned lose on pedestrians, but also what the narrator has for breakfast and how excited she is to be performing a solo in church that day. It really sets the tone of the unrest that had become so commonplace at this moment in history. The horrifying occurrence itself is mentioned without great detail, as if the child doesn't want to get too far into what she saw. The rest of the day is described, and there is a sadness beyond her years as she speaks not of the birthday party that she will no longer have that day, but of the four girls who will have no more birthdays and of the mayhem in the streets of her town on the heels of this tragedy. The point of view in this book makes it all the more evident how terrible this day really was, and that very young children were witnesses to the atrocities that took place on that infamous day. The book's pictures are real photos taken that day. They show families crying out in the streets and utter confusion on the faces of the residents of Birmingham that awful day, a day that will stand out in the history of that city and of our nation forever.

REVIEW EXCERPTS:

Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award

Jane Addams Children's Literature Honor

Jefferson Cup

Best Book, Librarian's Choices
"Exquisitely understated design lends visual potency to a searing poetic evocation of the Birmingham church bombing of 1963." Kirkus Reviews

CONNECTIONS:

This book would be excellent to read as an introduction to THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM, 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. It would also be an beneficial addition to a unit on Civil Rights (maybe during Black History Month or on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day).

BECOMING BILLIE HOLIDAY by Carole Boston Weatherford

MOSES by Carole Boston Weatherford

I, MATTHEW HENSON by Carole Boston Weatherford