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Bud, Not Buddy

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Overview

It's 1936, in Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and ten-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy on the run, but Bud's got a few things going for him:He has his own suitcase filled with his own important, secret things.He's the author of Bud Caldwell's Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself.

Editorial Reviews

As in his Newbery Honor-winning debut, The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963, Curtis draws on a remarkable and disarming mix of comedy and pathos, this time to describe the travails and adventures of a 10-year-old African-American orphan in Depression-era Michigan. Bud is fed up with the cruel treatment he has received at various foster homes, and after being locked up for the night in a shed with a swarm of angry hornets, he decides to run away. His goal: to reach the man he--on the flimsiest of evidence--believes to be his father, jazz musician Herman E. Calloway. Relying on his own ingenuity and good luck, Bud makes it to Grand Rapids, where his "father" owns a club. Calloway, who is much older and grouchier than Bud imagined, is none too thrilled to meet a boy claiming to be his long-lost son. It is the other members of his band--Steady Eddie, Mr. Jimmy, Doug the Thug, Doo-Doo Bug Cross, Dirty Deed Breed and motherly Miss Thomas--who make Bud feel like he has finally arrived home. While the grim conditions of the times and the harshness of Bud's circumstances are authentically depicted, Curtis shines on them an aura of hope and optimism. And even when he sets up a daunting scenario, he makes readers laugh--for example, mopping floors for the rejecting Calloway, Bud pretends the mop is "that underwater boat in the book Momma read to me, Twenty Thousand Leaks Under the Sea." Bud's journey, punctuated by Dickensian twists in plot and enlivened by a host of memorable personalities, will keep readers engrossed from first page to last. Ages 9-12. (Sept.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information. -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY.

Author Information

Bio of Christopher Paul Curtis

"To me the highest accolade comes when a young reader tells me, ' I really liked your book. ' The young seem to be able to say ' really ' with a clarity, a faith, and an honesty that we as adults have long forgotten. That is why I write." Christopher Paul Curtis Christopher Paul Curtis made an outstanding debut in children ' s literature with The Watsons Go to Birmingham ' 1963. His second novel, Bud, Not Buddy, is the first book ever to receive both the Newbery Medal and the Coretta Scott King Author Award.

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Additional Info

Imprint

Delacorte for Young Readers

Filesize

704.32 KB

Number of Pages

256

eBook ISBN

9780385729956

Awards

  • ABC Children's Booksellers Choices Awards
  • American Library Association Notable Books for Children
  • Arizona Young Reader's Award
  • Bluebonnet Award
  • Bluegrass Award
  • Book Sense Book of the Year
  • Coretta Scott King Awards
  • Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award
  • Flicker Tale Children's Book Award
  • Garden State Children's Book Awards
  • Golden Archer Award (Wisconsin)
  • Golden Kite Awards
  • Great Lakes' Great Books Award
  • IRA Children's Book Awards
  • Land of Enchantment Book Award
  • Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award
  • Maine Student Book Award
  • Massachusetts Children's Book Award
  • Nene Award
  • Newbery Medal
  • Pennsylvania Young Reader's Choice Award
  • Prairie Pasque Award
  • Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year
  • Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award
  • School Library Journal Best Books of the Year
  • Sunshine State Young Reader's Book Award
  • Volunteer State Book Award
  • West Virginia Children's Book Award
  • William Allen White Children's Book Award
  • Wyoming Indian Paintbrush Book Award
  • Young Reader's Choice Award

Excerpt from: Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis

Chapter 1
Here we go again. We were all standing in line waiting for breakfast when one of the caseworkers came in and tap-tap-tapped down the line. Uh-oh, this meant bad news, either they'd found a foster home for somebody or somebody was about to get paddled. All the kids watched the woman as she moved along the line, her high-heeled shoes sounding like little firecrackers going off on the wooden floor.

Shoot! She stopped at me and said, "Are you Buddy Caldwell?"

I said, "It's Bud, not Buddy, ma'am."

She put her hand on my shoulder and took me out of line. Then she pulled Jerry, one of the littler boys, over. "Aren't you Jerry Clark?" He nodded.

"Boys, good news! Now that the school year has ended, you both have been accepted in new temporary care homes starting this afternoon!"

Jerry asked the same thing I was thinking. "Together?"

She said, "Why, no. Jerry, you'll be in a family with three little girls..."

Jerry looked like he'd just found out they were going to dip him in a pot of boiling milk.

"... and Bud..." She looked at some papers she was holding. "Oh, yes, the Amoses, you'll be with Mr. and Mrs. Amos and their son, who's twelve years old, that makes him just two years older than you, doesn't it, Bud?"

"Yes, ma'am."

She said, "I'm sure you'll both be very happy."

Me and Jerry looked at each other.

The woman said, "Now, now, boys, no need to look so glum. I know you don't understand what it means, but there's a depression going on all over this country. People can't find jobs and these are very, very difficult times for everybody. We've been lucky enough to find two wonderful families who've opened their doors for you. I think it's best that we show our new foster families that we're very..."