Choose one book talk topic from the list below to
discuss. Give at least two pieces of evidence from The Watsons Go to
Birmingham to defend your thinking.
For example...
The author's message is ___________.
I know this because in the text _____________.
Also, _________________________________.
Book Talk Topics
-Author's message
-Main problem in the story
-Character motivation
-Character belief system
-Themes
-Symbols
-Patterns
The main problem in The Watsons Go to Birmingham is bullying. I know this because there are a lot of bullies in the book. Byron is a bully because he kept slamming Larry Dunn against a metal gate. He did that because Larry took Kenny’s gloves. Another bully in the book is Larry Dunn. Larry is a bully because he called the new boy, Rufus a cornflake because Rufus is poor and skinny. So that’s why the main problem is bullying.
ReplyDeleteIn The Watsons Go to Birmingham , Kenny is forgiving. I know this because in the text it says that Kenny still felt bad for Byron when he was getting hurt as a punishment even though Byron hurts him. Another part in the the text that proves Kenny is forgiving is that when Larry Dunn was getting beat up he felt bad for Larry even though Larry steals his stuff and bullies him, and he didn’t enjoy the scene, while other people who got bullied by Larry did, and this shows Kenny forgives people who bully him, which is a hard thing to do.
ReplyDeleteTwo themes in The watsons go to Birmingham is .One of them is that is trying to fit in because byron and Larry dunn are falling into pure pressure and wanting to be a bully and tuff to fit in cause larry dunn is poor and because of that he thinks he needs to fit in and be a bully.Another is that well it was a racist time and there was racism and sexism so they did not have a lot of money a lot of black were poor like Larry dunn and rufus and codey.
ReplyDeleteA pattern in the story is that By is trying to fit in because By might think that if he showed his smartest,he might get bullied. Another thing is that anytime By friends comes around, By turns into a Billy. I think he dose this because maybe he wants
ReplyDeletethe main problem in the book The Watsons Go To Brmingham is bullying.
ReplyDeleteI know this because in the book there is many bullies like Byron.
Byron is a bully because he is slamming Larry Dunn's face against the metal gate and I think that he got bullied one before.
He did that because he took Kennys glove and another bully in this book is Larry Dunn because he said the new boy,Rufus is poor and skinny and that is mean for a new kid and those are the two bullies.
To fit in because maybe he got bullied so now he wants to get back at him or her.
ReplyDeleteBuphead's also a bully.
DeleteA pattern in The Watsons Go to Birmingham is that Kenny the person who is telling the story exaggerates a lot. I know this because in the text it says that momma got all snake voice and said that the sweat on Byron's finger was probably melting with a hiss because of the fire that momma was going to burn his finger with. Also, when Kenny's little sister came running in to save Byron, Kenny said that she was like the little engine who thought it could and that the match that momma was trying to use was covered in big blob of spit when it was probably just covered in a little bit of spit.
ReplyDeleteI feel like he was just relating Joey to the little engine that could, not exaggerating. Although, I agree that the spitting was exaggerated.
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ReplyDeleteOne of the themes in this book is Bullying. Even Larry Dunn, the biggest bully got bullied by Byron, Kenny's brother. Kenny Watson is very sympathetic because when Larry Dunn got bullied and Byron's mom was going to light Byron's finger on fire, Kenny really felt bad. He wouldn't even get the matches. All of the kids in the book end up falling into peer pressure.
ReplyDeleteByron fell under peer pressure because when other kids were bullying, he decided to fit in even though it meant being mean.
A pattern in The Watsons Go to Birmingham is Kenny the little brother keeps getting in trouble with something and his brother keeps protecting him, sometimes with physical violence.
ReplyDeleteFor example when Kenny was in 2nd grade and he had to read a book to Byron's 5th grade class for kids who needed extra care or something, and Byron's friend Buphead and a bunch of other kids came up to Kenny at recess with Byron, they all expected Byron to beat up Kenny. But Byron just lightly punched Kenny on the shoulder And when he retaliated with physical violence, once when Larry Dunn, one of the school's bullies, stole Kenny's brown, leather gloves, and dyed them black with shoe polish to make the gloves look like his own so he could give kids super duper Maytag washes in the snow. When Byron found out, he pretended to make a movie where Larry Dunn was the star so he was a carp and he had to try to get out of a net in the Flint River .
I think that Walona is a good mom.
ReplyDeleteThe reason I think that is because she pulled Byron of the window to save him. Something nobody else would.
Another reason I think this because she bundles the children up to much in fear of their health.
Also she did the only thing she could to stop Byron from burning the house; she scared Byron into stoping but didn't actually hurt Byron.
Wasn't she actually going to hurt him but Joey kept spitting on her hand.
DeleteIn the book the watsons go to birmingham the main problem is bullying. I think this because in the text it said when Rufus said hi from where he came from people laughed at him and made fun of him for saying that. Also, when Kenny told Byron a bully named Larry dunn stole his gloves Byron went took the gloves back then started slamming Larry against the metal gate. This shows that a main problem in this story is bullying
ReplyDeleteI agree because it's like all the bullies are always bullying everybody, even the other bullies. So the main problem is bullying.
Deletetest
ReplyDeleteByron’s motivation to be a bully is because of the kids around him and because of Buphead. I know this because in the book it said that By had recently become a juvenile delinquent. Another reason is that the kids around him, whenever it looks like he’s going to jack someone up, they crowd around him, and egg him on.
ReplyDeleteOne pattern in the book is people are getting bullied and no one is stopping it.
ReplyDeleteI know this because in the text Larry Dunn teased Rufus on the bus and the bus driver just cursed at Larry Dunn and said "I'll tell your secret about your mom if you do that again".
Also, in the text Byron slammed Larry Dunn against the fence and people just made a crowd and started chanting for more.
One theme I think happens in the story, Watsons go to Birmingham is, Byron at first is all high and mighty when he bullies or hurts somebody. After, he gets hurt and then shrinks down into a teeny little baby and gets all weak and scared.
ReplyDeleteOne piece of evidence I have for this is in the beginning of the story Byron and Buphead got all high and mighty [like I said] and gives Kenny the training on How To Survive a Blizzard. Then keeps pushing Kenny in the snow and throwing snow in his face and really hurting him. After they had finished beating Kenny up Buphead had left and Byron got his lips stuck to the rear view mirror on the car while looking at himself and melted like butter and became a teeny little baby and began to cry!
My second piece of evidence is when Byron kept punching,throwing,kicking and beating up Larry Dunn. While he was doing that he kept going because I think he liked the attention of all the people looking. Another thing I think he thought was probably the thought of being king and high and mighty.
Then after a day or two Byron was playing with fire and he was warned and threatened to get burned after he had lit the match. The next day he was playing with matches again and got caught! After he got caught his mom took the matches from him and grabbed him by his neck and dragged him down the stairs and started lighting a match and getting closer to his finger. Just before she did it he started crying and getting scared like a baby!
I'M SOOOOO SORRY I MEANT PATTERN
DeleteIn the book the Wastons go to Birmingham, the mostly main problem is that there a lot of bullies, such as Larry Dunn. Once in the story, Larry Dunn stole Kenny's gloves and painted the gloves with shoe polish. When Byron took Kenny's gloves back to Kenny, he started to slam Larry Dunn against the gate. Then Byron decided to pretend to make a movie in which Larry Dunn was the star. Larry Dunn pretended to be the carp in which he had to escape from the net in the Flint river. Momma caught Byron using matches in their home. She told of a story when her home was burnt down. Byron hid in the bathroom in which he started to make the parachutes out of toilet paper and lit them up. When the last parachute gone down the toilet, Momma busted Byron and dragged down the stairs. Joetta was afraid her brother Byron was burned to death that she protected Byron and blew out the match that was about to burn Byron's finger. So since I have no more ideas so that's The End.
ReplyDeleteIn the Watsons go to Birmingham, the main problem of the story is that Kenny is a nice kid who likes to read and he's in a school with lots and lots and lots of bullies. And his brother Byron is the biggest bully and the god of the school. Sometimes his brother hurts him and sometimes he doesn't. But the problem is theres also a few other bullies that mess around with Kenny like Larry Dunn and Buphead. Buphead is the worst of them and he wanted to beat up Kenny. Larry Dunn is always mean to Kenny and he has a thing called the washing machine where he shoves snow in their face. And it happens to all the kids around Kenny. Also Byron also likes to tease Kenny also. And that's the main problem in the story.
ReplyDeleteA main problem in (The Watsons go to Birmingham) is Byron is falling under pear pressure. My evidence is Byron is being a big bully because his friends are making him a bully but he's actually a play full child that plays in the bathroom so a big bully is not the actual Byron.
ReplyDeletecan i get a hoyyyya
ReplyDeleteIN the book the Watsons go to Birmingham. Byron the secondary is a bully but when it comes to his brother Kenny he doesn't bully him. My evidence for this is that when Kenny was reading the class book he wasn't reading so good and the other bullies that Byron is friends with they kept telling him to bully his brother. I also have a character trait for Byron he is a kind kid but just he doesn't show he kindness to his community and also hes setting a bad example to his brother Kenny.
ReplyDeleteI think the main problem in the story is bullying. Kenny is the nice guy. Everyone try to bully him bryon’s brother Kenny is also a bully and his best friend bump head I know this because bumphead and bryon bully Kenny. Bumphead and bryon stand up for Kenny and Rufus when they are being bullied by Larry Dunn. So the main problem is that this book has lot of bully
ReplyDeleteThe author message is do not play with matches or something bad will happen For example,Byron keeps on playing with matches his mother tells him about how her house got Burnet down. Byron mother and her brother had to wear burned clothing when they were younger and she did not want the same thing to happen to her children .Byron still doesn't listen to he's mother he plays with matches in the bathroom for a very long time. She ran into the bathroom and caught Byron playing with matches.she graped his ear and tried to burn his ear.This is a big message to never play with fire.
ReplyDeleteIn the Watson's go to Birmingham, there are many themes. One of the themes is bullying. My first example is when Byron and Buphead give kenny HOW TO SURVIVE A BLIZZARD PART 1. How to survive a blizzard part 1 is roughing up that they do to him. It's when they pretend a blizzard is coming and then blow in his face and then push him into the snow. This is a form of bullying.
ReplyDeleteAnother example of bullying is when Larry Donn does the wahsing maching to other kids. The washing machine is when Larry picks kids up in a mean way and he shakes them around. This is another example of bullying.
My third example is when Kenny's gloves get stolen. Larry Dunn steals Kenny's gloves and colors them black so Kenny doesn't recognize them. Stealing things from other kids is a form of bullying.
There are many other examples of the bullying theme in this book, and these are just three examples.
In the book, "The Watsons go to Birmingham, I think that Kenny's mom is motivated by her love for her kids.
ReplyDeleteOne reason why she seems to love them is that she always wants them to be warm. She makes them wear three long sleeve shirts, three sweaters and three jackets. When the kids get to school, they are sweating.
Another reason why she seems to love them is she doesn't want them to get hurt. She stops Kenny's brother from burning himself by warning him not to play with fire. She even threatens to burn his hand off if she sees him playing with matches.
Kenny's mom might be overprotective but I think its because of love.
One topic we talked about was that Larry don has something going on with his mother and is poor.
ReplyDeleteWhen they were on the bus the bus driver said "Don't make me tell all these people about what happened to your mother." Then Larry sat down like he was embarrassed about what had happened to his mother.
I think Larry Don is poor because when Byron was beating Larry don up he had holes in the bottom of his shoes and had cord boar to try to cover the wholes up.Also because he had on a wind breaker which is very thin and under he only had on a little tiny t-shirt.