Bud, Not Buddy

Curtis, Christopher Paul. 1999. Bud, Not Buddy. New York: Delacorte. ISBN 978-0385323062.

Plot Summary
In this Newberry and Corretta Scott King award winning tale we meet Bud - not Buddy. The tale is set in Depression Era Michigan and told by ten year old Bud Caldwell. An orphan from the age of six, Bud has lived in his share of foster homes. In the final foster home, he flees after he realizes staying could be a detriment. His hope lies in the one flier carried in his briefcase that may hold the key to finding his father.

Analysis
With the first sentence of the book: Here we go again, I was captivated! I immediately asked, “What happened in the past? Were the character’s past experiences horrid? Christopher Paul Curtis does a superb job of painting a vivid picture of the Depression, and all the while presenting a captivating storyline with enduring, yet hilarious characters.
Curtis educates the reader as he describes numerous icons of the Depression: soup lines, redcaps, labor organizers, unions, and Hoovervilles. Curtis describes the breakfast lines at a mission in the following way:

The only sound you could hear was when someone scraped a spoon across the bottom
of their bowl.

Another gripping description is of a Hooverville. One of the residents of Hooverville states,

“All these people..are just like you, they are tired, hungry and a little
bit nervous about tomorrow.”

To provide a balance of the harsh reality of the Depression, Curtis presents us with humorous and enduring characters that I saw as Bud's guardians, such as the librarian or Mr. Lefty that picked Bud off the side of the road . Bud possesses a fantastic imagination and incredible buoyancy in spite of the difficult hand life has given him. He is the creator of Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things to Have a Funner Life and Make a Better Liar Out of Yourself. My favorite is Rule # 83:

If adults tell you not worry, and you weren’t worried before, you better hurry
up and start ‘cause you’re already running late.

One of the first phrases my students found amusing was, “I was on the lam.” They stated that was how they knew this book was from the past. The book made a fantastic read aloud! In spite of presenting the hard facts about the Depression, the book leaves us with hope and reminds us that perseverance will ultimately be rewarded. In a Afterward presented by Curtis we learn of the inspiration for this book and are encouraged to:

Go talk to Grandma and Grandpa…By keeping their stories alive, you make them and
yourself, immortal.

This is a beautiful book and one I intend to share with my children and my children’s children.

Reviews
"While the harshness of Bud's circumstances are authentically depicted, Curtis imbues them with an aura of hope, and he makes readers laugh even when he sets up the most daunting scenarios," - From Publishers Weekly

"Curtis says in an afterword that some of the characters are based on real people, including his own grandfathers, so it's not surprising that the rich blend of tall tale, slapstick, sorrow, and sweetness has the wry, teasing warmth of family folklore. "- From Booklist

Connections
Dear Mrs. Roosevelt: Letters from the Children of the Great Depression by Robert Cohen
Other books by Christopher Paul Curtis:
The Watson go to Birmingham-1963
Bud, not Buddy was also released in Spanish.


Bud had a great collection going: Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself. Students could be encouraged to add their own rules to Bud's list or use his rules as journal response starters.