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)

Rapunzel

Zelinsky, P. (1997). Rapunzel. New York: Dutton Children's Books.

Summary

Taken from her parents as a baby by a sorceress, Rapunzel is named after the herb her father was caught stealing to satisfy her pregnant mother. At the age of twelve, Rapunzel is taken to live in a grand, high tower in the woods with no doors and only one window at the very top. For years Rapunzel lives alone in her tower with the sorceress her only visitor, until one day a prince riding through the woods hears Rapunzel's beautiful singing. Enchanted by her voice, he watches the strange tower to learn how to enter. After the sorceress has come and gone, the prince mimics her by calling "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" Rapunzel's golden hair cascades down to the prince, who climbs up as he has seen the sorceress do. The two young lovers decide to marry in the tower. When the sorceress discovers their secret, she cuts Rapunzel's hair in a fury and uses it to lure the prince to tragedy. Blind and wandering through the wilderness for a year, he is saved by the sound of Rapunzel's sweet voice. The two are reunited and are welcomed back into his kingdom, where they live happily ever after.

Worth a bookmark?

Being a Caldecott Award winner, the initial attraction to this particular version of Rapunzel is the illustrations. Zelinsky sets the story in the Italian Renaissance by using that style of painting for the illustrations, and this style fits well with the language of the story. The emotions of the characters are so evident with the vivid illustrations! A reader can see delight, fury, terror, despair, and love in the faces of the characters. Zelinsky's version is different from others I have read; it was interesting to see the same basic story told in a different way. I have a special attachment to this book because I recently read it to my class of second graders after I was shocked to learn they had never heard this story along with several other fairy tales. They were enthralled by the story and the illustrations, and it has been a wonderful experience to continue sharing fairy tales with them.

In my library…

Since Zelinsky's version of Rapunzel is only one of many, I would use this in my library as part of a study of the many versions of fairy tales. With younger students the focus would be on comparing story elements in the different versions, like setting, character, and plot specifics. With younger students this study could broaden into how fairy tales have evolved through the centuries and why different cultures portray the story in a certain way.

Reviews

K-Gr 3--In a lengthy note, Zelinsky explains his research into the pre-Grimm Brothers' origins of "Rapunzel" in French and Italian tales, but his retelling does not vary significantly from other picture-book renditions. However, his version does not sidestep the love between the maiden in the tower and the prince, as some retellers have done. The lovers hold a ceremony of marriage between themselves, and it is Rapunzel's signs of pregnancy that bring about her banishment from the tower and her prince's downfall. What sets this Rapunzel apart from the others is the magnificence of the Renaissance setting. Readers will linger over the opulence and rich details of furnishings and fabrics, and admire the decorative patterns and architectural details of the tower and the rooms. Echoes of high Renaissance art can be seen in the costumes, the buildings, and the landscapes. In their postures and gestures, the richly dressed characters might have stepped out of the paintings of Botticelli and Mantegna and Verrocchio and Raphael. But in Zelinsky's scenes there are no angels, no holy figures, no miracles--only magic. The impossibly high, almost pencil-thin tower looms above the trees. Rapunzel's hair, cascading some 50 feet to the ground, would daunt the sturdiest climbers unless they were a sorceress or a young man in love. Each scene, from the delightful Italianate farm pictured on the endpapers to the last happy scene where the prince and his bride pose with their cherub-like twins, is painted, writes Zelinsky, as a humble attempt to "spur an interest in the magnificent art from which I have drawn." A stunning effort. (Shirley Wilton, Ocean County College, Toms River, NJ, published in School Library Journal)