How do you select the historical events and settings that are the foundation of your novels? What inspired your interest in history? You can give birth to some of the most remarkable human beings ever and if they become unpleasant, unmanageable or a little too sassy, you can snuff them out at your slightest whim. I think the depiction of the homeless camps in the movie and subsequently in the book I borrowed from the library had a profound effect on me.
I saw these places as great representations of what can be the best of human nature. People recognized the need to care for one another, to work toward maintaining peace and to understand the sense of a shared destiny. I wanted to look more closely into this and thus, as only a writer can do, I set part of my story there.
There are at least a couple of reasons that historical fiction for young readers provides the perfect platform from which to answer those questions or launch that new look; first, the age of the narrator. That age span seems to serve as a sort of resting spot in our march toward some modicum of human maturity. How did you decide to write for children? Have you ever considered writing books for adults?
When I was writing my first book, The Watsons Go to Birmingham , I thought of it as a story being told by a ten-year-old boy; I never considered ten-year-old boys to be my audience. I have had a book for adults on the back burner for twenty years.
It takes place in Flint during the early seventies to mid-eighties and is centered around factory life. There are alternating narrators: one a pot-head sweeper who is hustling his way through life and the other a very young man who feels he has trapped himself in the factory.
The voice for the adult book is much raunchier and raw, vulgar even, and going from that to the voice of a ten-year-old has been problematic.
In you were the first African American man to win the Newbery Medal first awarded in How did that change your life? Despite sincere efforts on many fronts to make the publishing world more inclusive and a better reflection of our world, there is a dearth of novels for, by, or about anyone other than the white mainstream.
CCC: What do you hope your readers will know or feel when they finish one of your books? Christopher Paul Curtis : My biggest hope is that my younger readers will feel a sense of curiosity when they finish one of my books.
Writing is a grand act of manipulation, and writers have so many tools at our disposal to influence readers. We have time. We can go over something again and again until we get it as close to right as we can tolerate. We have access to great books that have come before, which are storehouses of knowledge of craft.
We have access to older, wiser human beings who are a treasure of minute historical details. There is a saying that with the death of every senior the world loses another library. If we act quickly enough, writers have access to those libraries. We have access to our own experiences and we have the fact that these experiences are filtered through the prisms of our lives, which make the story our own.
With all of that working for me as a writer, with all of those tools on my side, I hope most of all that my readers enjoy the stories and learn something to boot. I believe when a reader picks up a book, he or she is entering into a contract with a writer, one in which they agree to suspend disbelief long enough and just enough that they can be moved by the artificial construct that is a novel.
Blog Interview with Christopher Paul Curtis. This is particularly true for writers. That comes with patience-waiting to get your butt kicked a time or two gives you a different perspective on life.
You have to develop a thick skin and be able to look at failures as steps in your journey. Yeah, go lick your wounds, but learn from your mistakes and make the improvements you can.
CCC: A lot of your main characters are risk-takers. Are you? Voters, your vote for me will really, really ease my pain. CCC: You have four rules for young writers: Write every day. His plan was to spend his days at the library trying his hand at fiction once again. The only trouble was that once they got to Florida nothing happened. The Watsons sold three million copies and was originally optioned by Whoopi Goldberg.
It was made into a film by Tanya Lewis Lee in Both of these books are set in Flint; Curtis has kept a close connection to his hometown. Approximately Grade 4 students attend a one-day event, where Curtis encourages them to read and write, and shares anecdotes about his own upbringing.
The students are then asked to produce a personal essay, the best of which are sent to Curtis to judge. In May the university holds a gala dinner for the finalists and their families, where Curtis names his overall winners. People were coming into Canada again, across frozen fields with crying babies. It was the same thing all over. By Shanda Deziel. I think Herman will treat Bud like his son because he doesn't have a son and because he loved his daughter a lot and Bud was Janet's son.
Student Response : Hi! My name is Todd. I live in China. I am twelve years old. Here is my answer for the question. I was very surprised when knew who Herman was because I thought he acted a lot like Bud.
Student Response : I wasn't surprised that Herman was Bud's grandpa because in the book he said he was old and had wrinkles on his forehead. It's hard to say how Herman is going to treat Bud because the book just tells you that Herman cries and cries through the whole end of the book when he finds out what Bud's name is, but I think that Herman will be very nice.
Thank you. The thing I'll do first is to write a story about Deza Malone, do you remember her in the story? I want to write from her point of view on what life was like in the s. I'm not sure if I'll ever do a sequel to Bud, but I probably will.
If so, how did you choose the speaker, because he was perfect. It was like you were really there with the characters. Student Response: Byron seems mean to Kenny because he's the BIG brother and sometimes, older siblings tend to act like that. Then towards the end of the book, Byron realizes that being the big brother has responsibilities.
Byron shows that he cares by sticking up for Kenny when Larry Dunn stole his gloves. He also shows it when he comforts Kenny when he's down. For example, when Kenny's gloves are taken by Larry Dunn, Byron is sure to get them back one way or another.
He comforts Kenny and helps him to better understand what went on towards the conclusion of the book. To me, that really shows the compassion that he feels towards the rest of the Watsons. Student Response: He doesn't let anyone really pick on Kenny. He talks to his family. He listens to his mom and dad sometimes. Byron tells Kenny and Joey things that aren't true to make them listen so they don't get hurt.
Student Response: I think that he shows that he cares about his family by actually helping them when they need help. When Kenny almost drowned, Byron saved him. When Kenny was shocked by what happened in Birmingham, Byron was there to cheer him up.
He always looks out for Joey and tells his parents not to worry about Kenny. Even though he never shows it, he really cares about his family. Student Response: The way that Byron shows he cares for his family is when Kenny almost drowns, he pulls him out and starts to kiss him and hug him. And when Kenny was sick, Byron sleeps by him. Student Response: I think Byron cares about his family, but he is just too embarrassed to show it.
Student Response: Byron shows that he is caring by trying to defend his family, and even though he is not perfect himself, he tries to keep them from making mistakes and getting harmed.
Byron's methods are not the most compassionate, but he shows his love and care in his own special way without being very emotional. When he thought he was going to drown he saw death coming for him. In the church I think it was death. No one else sees it because it's not really there. It was probably just something Kenny made up in his mind. He probably thought something was pulling him down because he was losing air. The bomb also scared Kenny. But I don't think it was actually there, but death was.
It's like a metaphor. Student Response : I felt as though my heart had a hole it in, even though I have read and seen many passages and news clips about the event. Student Response : I felt very sad because I though Joetta was dead, but she was not.
If she had died it would have been unfair because Joetta was a really nice girl. She didn't mess or bother anyone, but it still is really bad because two little girls did die. I did not know about this event before, but I would like to know what really happened. Student Response : I felt bad because the children didn't have anything to do with it.
Why would that person do it? Student Response : I felt sad because it's not right to kill. All you need to do is stand for justice and everything will be all right. It made me feel upset. Student Response: The thought that some one would actually kill a lot of girls just because they're black makes me cry inside. I never knew that someone did that. I also never even in my worst dreams thought that someone would even think of doing that.
Student Response: I did know that there was a church bombing back in the day that claimed the lives of four little girls.
My dad was educating me on a lot of little things that happened between blacks and whites. When I read about it in the story, it really did hurt because of the fact that there was so much hate between people that it got serious enough to actually kill innocent kids. Student Response: I had already known about the bombing and thought it was really sad that someone would do something like that.
When I read about in the book I wanted to be able to help Kenny cope with what he had just seen, but I couldn't. Later I realized that I wouldn't even know how to handle myself in a situation like that. It's really sad that everyone had to go through that. I have sincere sympathy for those who were in someway affected by the church bombing. Student Response: I think they love each other more than before, knowing that their sister could have been in that church bombing.
Now they care about each other more and watch out for each other more. And now they don't fight as much as they use to. Student Response: I think they became a better, stronger, more united family in their own individual way.
Student Response: Kenny got quieter and acted real weird. Byron got nicer and started to hang out with Kenny more. Momma and Dad talked about things more because they all got scared that Joetta could have died in the church and because they were also concerned about Kenny. They all pretty much changed because of the awful things that happened in Birmingham. Student Response : I think the family changed a lot because by the end of the book, Byron was more respectful and kinder to Kenny.
Kenny had learned to accept himself, and they were all a lot closer and had a greater appreciation for their family, home, and life itself. Student Response : I think that the family changed at the end of the story because Kenny and Byron changed roles.
Byron was more mature and more responsible and Kenny was more like a daredevil. Student Response : After seeing the terrible church bombing in Alabama, the Watsons were probably more grateful for what they had. They appreciated each other more. I don't know who the two boys are!
Student Question: Do you ever visit Birmingham? Do you think it has changed? I'm visiting two schools there. I had never gone there before The Watsons was written though, I learned about the city through research in the library. Student Question: How did you get the idea to give Kenny a lazy eye? Do any of Kenny or Byron's friends resemble your childhood friends? Christopher Paul Curtis: Kenny's lazy eye is really a metaphor for the way Kenny is very introspective and questioning.
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