Chapter 1, And You Wonder Why We Get Called the Weird Watsons Summary

In The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963, the Watsons are a black family living in Flint, Michigan, and the narrator Kenny is the middle child, an intelligent boy who is often made fun of at school. Because Kenny's older brother By continually gets into trouble, the family travels to Birmingham, Alabama, so that By can spend the summer with his grandmother. The family is in Birmingham when segregationists blow up a church. Initially, everyone thinks that By's sister Joey has been killed. Kenny, who sees the destruction at the church, has to come to terms with this act of hatred.

The novel begins on a freezing cold day in Flint, Michigan, when the furnace isn't enough to heat the Watson house. The family...