The Weird Watsons live in Flint, Michigan where the kids all go to Clark Elementary. Byron is in the sixth grade and he 's the king of Clark (read, The Bully everyone is afraid of). Kenny, our narrator, is in the fourth grade, and their little sister Joetta (Joey) is in kindergarten. Kenny gets picked on by the bullies at school, especially Larry Dunn, king of the fourth grade. Things aren 't looking great for Kenny until this kid Rufus moves to Flint from Arkansas. Rufus is poor and shabby and he talks with a Southern accent, so at first, Kenny is excited that the kids will have someone new to bully. But instead, Rufus and Kenny become friends. Good call. The school year progresses and Kenny keeps us up to speed on the highlights, which mostly involve Byron getting into trouble. He beats up Larry Dunn, he sets things on fire, he kills a bird with a cookie (no, we 're not kidding) and then gets really upset about it. At this point, we 're all a little confused about what exactly is going on with this kid, and Momma and Dad are pretty frustrated. Then Byron gets his hair chemically straightened without permission (in the Watson family this is a big no no, so dad shaves Byron 's head ball, and that is the last straw. …show more content…
Momma and Dad announce that the whole family is going to take a trip to Birmingham where there Mom is from to see Grandma Sands, and Byron is going to have to stay with her for the entire summer or until he learns to behave. Down at Grandma Sands 's house, things are great, and to everyone 's shock, Byron starts being nice. One day the kids decide to go swimming, but Grandma Sands warns them to stay away from Collier 's landing where there 's a dangerous whirlpool that drowned a boy. Byron tells Kenny and Joey that the Wool Pooh (whirlpool) is Winnie-the-Pooh 's evil twin brother that pulls kids into the water. Kenny wants to go see Collier 's Landing anyway, but Byron says they should listen to