Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963, Chapter 15

The last chapter of The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 has some more historical things, but they aren't too important. There are things like what the couch might look like at the World-Famous Watson Pet Hospital or 1960's TV cartoons like Bat Fink or Felix the Cat. Instead of looking at those, let's focus on what's really important. Here are some questions to think about and to guide our discussion in class.

The Wool Pooh
  • What did Kenny see in the water? What did he really see (do we know for sure?) and what does he describe seeing?  Is Kenny the kind of kid who would just completely make something up while telling the story?
  • What did Kenny see at the church? Again, what did he really see and what does he describe seeing?
  • What is the connection between the two events, Kenny at Collier's Landing and Kenny at the church?
  • What possible explanations are there for the Wool Pooh?

The Church
  • How does Kenny describe the events of that Sunday morning?
  • How does Joetta describe the events of that Sunday morning?
  • Why the differences? Is someone lying? Is someone making something up? Why are there two different explanations for the same event?

Byron
  • Even though Kenny is the narrator, could Byron be considered a main character? Why or why not?
  • Describe Byron in chapters 1-10. What kind of person is he? What words and actions show you those traits?
  • Describe Byron in chapters 12-15. Is he the same person? Exactly the same, mostly the same, sort of the same, not really the same, or totally different? What words and actions show you how Byron has changed?
  • Look back at chapter 11. (That's the chapter when the family arrives in Birmingham.) When does Kenny start to realize that a change might be happening?
  • Why did the family go to Birmingham in the first place? Did they get the result they intended? Did that result come in the way they had planned?
Finally, thanks, everyone, for the great discussion and for making The Watsons Go to Birmingham - 1963 a great read aloud.

3 comments:

  1. Hi i'm Joshua and i think i have a theory about the wool pooh and the church so first up so when Kenny went to colliers landing he got pulled by something called the wool pooh but then at the bombing at the church he thought he saw the wool pooh when he was grabbing who he thought was Joetta and he fought over the shoe with what he thought was the wool pooh before he left so my theory is that the thing that tug Kenny's leg at colliers landing was a random thing and the man he fought over the shoe with at the church was just a random person trying to pull the shoe because that person under the rock could be that mans family member that"s why he pulled the shoe and Joetta was not harmed at all so it couldn't have been hurt by the rock so this means the wool pooh and the man fighting for the shoe were two different people doing the things they did for totally different reasons.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Joshua. You have certainly put a lot of thought into your theory. Here's my question for you. Think about the events where the Wool Pooh shows up. What is happening then? Or nearly happening?

      The first time at Collier's Landing, they are supposed to stay out of the water. Kenny hears something wrong and THINKS it's "Wool Pooh" but it's another word. Something bad happens then, and he blames it on the Wool Pooh. Then at the church something bad happens again, something similar to at Collier's Landing, so Kenny blames the Wool Pooh again.

      What is that bad thing that almost happens at both places? Hmmm.....

      Delete
  2. Hi i'm Joshua and i think i have a theory about the wool pooh and the church so first up so when Kenny went to colliers landing he got pulled by something called the wool pooh but then at the bombing at the church he thought he saw the wool pooh when he was grabbing who he thought was Joetta and he fought over the shoe with what he thought was the wool pooh before he left so my theory is that the thing that tug Kenny's leg at colliers landing was a random thing and the man he fought over the shoe with at the church was just a random person trying to pull the shoe because that person under the rock could be that mans family member that"s why he pulled the shoe and Joetta was not harmed at all so it couldn't have been hurt by the rock so this means the wool pooh and the man fighting for the shoe were two different people doing the things they did for totally different reasons.

    ReplyDelete

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