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Chapter 1

Summary: 1. And You Wonder Why We Get Called the Weird Watsons

Kenny Watson has a brother, Byron, and a sister Joetta (sometimes Joey). He and his parents live in Flint, Michigan. On an extremely cold Saturday, the family huddles together on the couch. They each wear multiple clothing layers and winter coats. The weatherman on TV states that temperatures will be below zero for several more days, but the weather in Atlanta, Georgia, is in the mid-seventies. Momma (Kenny’s mother) tells the father that she should have stayed in Georgia. Dad (Kenny’s father) says that if she stayed there, she would have married Moses “Hambone” Henderson, and their children would all have lumpy heads. Dad continues to make jokes, trying to keep his family’s mind off the cold.

Unable to reach the landlord concerning the lack of heat, Dad calls Aunt Cydney, because the heat in her home is reliable. Aunt Cydney invites them over and Dad goes outside to get the car started. It is a 1948 Plymouth, called the “Brown Bomber.” Byron and Kenny are asked to scrape ice from the windows of the car. Kenny completes his half of the car and hears Byron mumbling his name. Kenny worries that his brother is trying to trick him. After Byron bangs on the car, Kenny investigates and finds that Byron’s lips are stuck to the side mirror. The whole family comes outside into the cold. Momma is worried, but Dad laughs so hard that he has to lean on the hood of the car. Eventually, Momma pulls Byron free. While they drive to Aunt Cydney’s, Kenny makes fun of Byron.

Analysis: Chapter 1

The opening chapter establishes the theme of the importance of family through ten-year-old Kenny’s first-person narration. The close-knit Watson family is filtered through Kenny’s surprisingly insightful point of view, although his perception of events and characters is somewhat limited by his youth and inexperience. It is clear early on that the Watson family is bound together by a lot of love, often meeting challenges with humor. Dad’s use of jokes and stories to distract the family from the discomfort of the extraordinary cold and his laughter when Byron accidentally freezes his lips to the car mirror serve as examples of how humor is used to bond the family together. Additionally, the family car, the Brown Bomber, serves as a symbol of the family throughout the novel. The vehicle is old, but it is safe and comfortable and gets the family where they need to go, much like how Kenny’s family supports each other in familiar, every-day ways. Kenny’s perspective on his parents and siblings sets a warm tone linked to the importance of family.

Dad’s response to Momma’s nostalgic memories of her childhood home in Birmingham, Alabama, helps to set the historical context of the novel and introduces the theme of racism. The novel’s title explains that the story takes place in 1963, a year in which Black people in the United States were fighting for basic civil rights. Dad’s comment about segregated bathrooms in Birmingham serves to remind Momma that everything is not perfect in Birmingham, and provides a specific example of the way Black Americans were treated. His reference to the racial segregation that was both common and legal in many places in the southern United States provides important context for the story to come. At this stage in the novel, racism, and specifically the racial violence taking place in the American South, are issues that seem far away from Kenny and the Watson family, but the inclusion of these details foreshadows their growing importance.

Next section Chapters 2 & 3

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