List $26.00

Written by Christopher Paul Curtis - Audio book performed by Levar Burton - Unabridged Fiction - 4 CASSETTES - 4 hours, 54 minutes

Publisher, Bantam Doubleday Dell (November 1996)

An unabridged recording of the

Newbery Honor Winner

"It is foremost a work of entertaining fiction." --Kliatt

"An exceptional first novel." --Publishers Weekly, Starred, Boxed Review

"Superb . . . a warmly memorable evocation of an African American family." --The Horn Book Magazine, Starred

"Marvelous . . . both comic and deeply moving." --The New York Times Book Review

"Grade 6 Up - Kenny's family is known in Flint, Michigan, as the Weird Watsons, for lots of good reasons. Younger sister Joetta has been led to believe she has to be overdressed in the winter because Southern folks (their mother is from Alabama) freeze solid and have to be picked up by the city garbage trucks. Kenny, the narrator, does well in school and tries to meet his hard-working parents' expectations. After a string of misdeeds, Mr. and Mrs. Watson decide that tough guy, older brother Byron must be removed from the bad influences of the city and his gang. They feel that his maternal grandmother and a different way of life in Birmingham might make him appreciate what he has. Since the story is set in 1963, the family must make careful preparations for their trip, for they cannot count on food or housing being available on the road once they cross into the South. The slow, sultry pace of life has a beneficial effect on all of the children until the fateful day when a local church is bombed, and Kenny runs to look for his sister. Written in a full-throated, hearty voice, this is a perfectly described piece of past imperfect. Curtis's ability to switch from fun and funky to pinpoint-accurate psychological imagery works unusually well. Although the horrific Birmingham Sunday throws Kenny into temporary withdrawal, this story is really about the strength of family love and endurance. Ribald humor....and a totally believable child's view of the world will make this book an instant hit." --Cindy Darling Codell, Clark Middle School, Winchester, KY - School Library Journal, Starred

A wonderful middle-grade novel narrated by Kenny, 9, about his middle-class black family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan. When Kenny's 13-year-old brother, Byron, gets to be too much trouble, they head South to Birmingham to visit Grandma, the one person who can shape him up. And they happen to be in Birmingham when Grandma's church is blown up.

About the Author : Christopher Paul Curtis was born in Flint, Michigan, and grew up there. Bud, Not Buddy, his second novel, winner of the 2000 Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award