With two books to his credit, Christopher Paul Curtis has earned not only a Newbery Medal, but also a Newbery honor and two Coretta Scott King awards for his fictional narratives about African-Americans from his native Flint, Michigan. Set historically, both of Curtis's novels explore themes of racism, belonging, love, hope, and the meaning of family. His debut title, The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963, incorporates the infamous Birmingham church bombing in 1963, an incident in which the Watsons--off from their home in Flint to visit a grandmother in the South--become involved. Narrated by the ten-year-old son of the family, Kenny, the book uses the vernacular and insights of a child that age. Curtis's second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, again uses a ten-year-old narrator, the eponymous and motherless Bud, who sets off during the Great Depression from his home in Flint to track down the man he thinks is his...