Christopher Paul Curtis
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The life story of Christopher Paul Curtis has a fairytale ending. After working more than a dozen years on an automobile assembly line, Curtis wrote two critically acclaimed children's books. His 1999 novel Bud, Not Buddy won the Newbery Medal, which is one of the most coveted prizes in children's literature. The success of these books enabled Curtis to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a writer.
Curtis grew up in Flint, Michigan. After graduating from high school, he enrolled at the University of Michigan, Flint to study political science. However, in 1972, Curtis succumbed to the temptation of the relatively good wages to be made at the nearby Fisher Body automobile plant where his father worked. When the boredom of working for ten hours a day on an automobile assembly line became unbearable, he began to write to challenge himself intellectually.
Critics applauded The Watsons Go to Birmingham for Curtis's characterizations, humor, and combination of factual and fictional events. According to Lannon, "It is a mark of Curtis' skill that he so easily makes the transition from humorous family vignettes to a life-threatening run-in with racism." Because readers have gotten to know and like the fictional Watson family, they react with distaste to the racism the Watsons encounter. "Curtis has created a wholly original novel in this warmly memorable evocation of an African American family and their experiences both terrible and transcendent," added Martha V. Parravano in her review for Horn Book.
Curtis credits his wife for his tremendous success because she believed in his dream and gave him the freedom to pursue it. "I never thought it would be possible to make a living as a writer, but my wife Kay had more faith in me and gave me the courage and opportunity to take a chance," Curtis told Lesesne. "I do believe we all have stories brewing inside of us, that it takes just the right amount of maturity, skill, dedication and luck to get them down into a published book." -from answer.com
Books by Christoper Paul Curtis
