Bud, Not Buddy

Curtis, C.P. (1999). Bud, not Buddy. New York: Delacorte Press.

Summary

Bud Caldwell is a ten-year-old orphan living in Michigan during the Great Depression. Add that to the fact that he's a black kid on his own after running away from his latest foster home, and Bud's in a real tight spot. Armed with nothing more than a suitcase holding all his worldly possessions and "Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Our of Yourself", he sets out to walk from Flint to Grand Rapids, boldly determined to find the father he never knew. Bud's only clue to the man he thinks his father is a blue flyer his mother always looked at advertising Herman E. Calloway's band. After getting a ride from union man Lefty Lewis he makes it to Grand Rapids, where he wins over the members of Herman E. Calloway's band. However, Mr. C himself is less than thrilled with this kid who claims to be his son as Bud wonders what his mother could have seen in this cantankerous old man. As the pages of Bud's story unfold, Herman is stunned to discover the ending to his long-lost daughter's story and a grandson he didn't know he had, and Bud finally finds a home with his grandfather's band.

Worth a bookmark?

Bud, Not Buddy is a great book not only because it is so well-written, but also because of the many struggles of life it addresses. Readers learn about life in Michigan for African-Americans during the Depression through the eyes of a kid. Although Bud is wise beyond his years, Curtis does not let us forget that Bud is only ten by sprinkling in kid-like character traits, like an irrational fear of vampires and a vivid imagination. Bud's story is also one of discovering your roots and finding out where you come from at any cost. Even though Bud met many obstacles, his determination to find his family carried him forward. Herman E. Calloway represents regret and second chances, as his character is shocked to find out who Bud truly is. I loved reading this book, and was thrilled to find out that Herman E. Calloway and Lefty Lewis were based on Curtis's own grandfathers. Bud, Not Buddy is certainly worthy of the Coretta Scott King and Newbery Medal awards it has won.

In my library…

There are so many different facets of this book that would be great to use to get students thinking and talking about social and historical issues. This book would be most appropriately used in grades five through eight. After a group of students read this book I would facilitate discussions about the different themes within the story, perhaps in a blog format or Read & Respond display board or folder.

Reviews

In a story that's as far-fetched as it is irresistible, and as classic as it is immediate, a deserving orphan boy finds a home. It's the Depression, and Bud (not Buddy) is ten and has been on his own since his mother died when he was six. In and out of the Flint, Michigan, children's home and foster homes ever since, Bud decides to take off and find his father after a particularly terrible, though riotously recounted, evening with his latest foster family. Helped only by a few clues his mother left him, and his own mental list of "Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself," Bud makes his way to a food pantry, then to the library to do some research (only to find that his beloved librarian, one Charlemae Rollins, has moved to Chicago), and finally to the local Hooverville where he just misses hopping a freight to Chicago. Undaunted, he decides to walk to Grand Rapids, where he hopes his father, the bandleader Herman E. Calloway, will be. Lefty Lewis, the kindly union man who gives Bud a lift, is not the first benevolent presence to help the boy on his way, nor will he be the last. There's a bit of the Little Rascals in Bud, and a bit more of Shirley Temple as his kind heart and ingenuous ways bring tears to the eyes of the crustiest of old men-not his father, but close enough. But Bud's fresh voice keeps the senti-mentality to a reasonable simmer, and the story zips along in step with Bud's own panache. (r.s., Horn Book, Nov./Dec. 1999)