Module 14 - Birmingham, 1963 by: Carole Boston Weatherford

Summary:
1963 was the year that a young girl, the narrator of this story, turned ten. We are taken through the events of her year, events that no ten year old girl should ever have to experience, until finally on her tenth birthday a day she was excited to sing a solo in church violence was the only thing heard.

Bibliographic Citation:
Boston Weatherford, C. (2007). Birmingham, 1963. Honesdale, PA: WordSong.

My Impression:
This verse style book was a difficult read because I knew where the plot was going. The words flowed smoothly through my head as I read it to myself and then off my tongue as I read it aloud later. Accompanied by black and white photographs streaked with red on each page of text everything about Birmingham, 1963 is powerful. The event in history is well known and has been written about frequently but this short version, a poem, finishes in a unique way I have never seen before. At the end there are four separate poems- one for each of the four girls who were killed in the church bombing that day along with a picture. Birmingham, 1963 personalizes an event that I have only learned about and by doing so reminds me that our country's history however tragic it may be must be remembered.

Reviews:
Exquisitely understated design lends visual potency to a searing poetic evocation of the Birmingham church bombing of 1963. The unnamed fictional narrator relates the events of "[t]he year I turned ten," this refrain introducing such domestic commonplaces as her first sip of coffee and "doz[ing] on Mama's shoulder" at church. She juxtaposes these against the momentous events of the year: the Children's March in Birmingham for which the narrator missed school, the March on Washington and the mass meetings at church that she found so soporific. The same matter-of-fact tone continues to relate what happened "[t]he day I turned ten:" "10:22 a.m. The clock stopped, and Jesus' face / Was blown out of the only stained-glass window / Left standing. . . . " Documentary gray dominates the palette, the only color angry streaks of red that evoke shattered window frames. The poems appear on recto accompanied by images of childhood—patent-leather shoes, pencils, bobby socks—while full-bleed archival photographs face them on verso. It's a gorgeous memorial to the four killed on that horrible day, and to the thousands of children who braved violence to help change the world. 2007, Wordsong/Boyds Mills, 40p, $17.95. Category: Poetry. Ages 10 to 14. Starred Review. © 2007 Kirkus Reviews/VNU eMedia, Inc. All rights reserved.
Kirkus (Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2007 (Vol. 75, No. 16))
 
How to use this book in your library:
As generations keep progressing the parts of American history that are studied and learned about are continuing to change- it is important that the Civil Rights period and the events that occurred throughout those trying years are learned about. Birmingham, 1963 would be an excellent book to read aloud. The verse and photographs included would keep a captive audience.