Summary:
We are first introduced to the main character, ten-year-old Bud, in the orphanage that has been his home since the death of his mother when he was merely six. He is about to be placed with a foster family that has a twelve-year-old son. When Bud arrives, he is treated in an atrocious manner by the family's son, who, in a final act of malice, gets Bud in so much trouble that they lock him in a garden shed. Bud escapes the shed and decides to run away to find his father with only a few fliers of a musical group that were his mother's as a guide. He believes that one of the players is his father. He hitches a ride to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and soon discovers one of the players from the flyer named Herman E. Calloway. Though their is some initial misunderstanding, Bud and Herman soon discover that Bud's mother was Herman's daughter making Herman Bud's grandfather.
My Evaluation:
The story was very interesting and drew me in when Bud was in the orphanage, and after Buddy is placed with the foster family, he faces a horrible reality to which many children can relate. However after Bud ran away, I had more and more trouble feeling like the story was believable. This surprised me considering the fact that most books that have this much recognition are truly captivating and deserving of the awards. I think it might be that I was having trouble relating to the story because it is really geared towards boys. However, the part I most appreciated was the afterward included by the author. In the afterward, he brought out the real people that inspired him to write the book. He includes real details about his grandfathers Earl "Lefty" Lewis and Herman E. Curtis that have a richness and reality about them that is so lacking in the story itself.
Reviews:
Rochman, H. (1999). Booklist Review of Bud, Not Buddy. Retrieved from http://www.booklistonline.com/Bud-Not-Buddy-Christopher-Paul-Curtis/pid=1707749
Bud, 10, is on the run from the orphanage and from yet another mean foster family. His mother died when he was 6, and he wants to find his father. Set in Michigan during the Great Depression, this is an Oliver Twist kind of foundling story, but it’s told with affectionate comedy, like the first part of Curtis’ The Watsons Go to Birmingham (1995). On his journey, Bud finds danger and violence (most of it treated as farce), but more often, he finds kindness—in the food line, in the library, in the Hooverville squatter camp, on the road—until he discovers who he is and where he belongs. Told in the boy’s naive, desperate voice, with lots of examples of his survival tactics (“Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar out of Yourself”), this will make a great read-aloud. 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.
Bird, E. (2010). Top 100 Children's Novels Poll. School Library Journal. Retrieved from http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2010/02/23/top-100-childrens-novels-poll-50-46/
#47 Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis (1999)
A tiny bit more color gets on the Top 100 list. We had this problem with the Top 100 Picture Books list too, as I recall. But I am quite pleased to see that this particular Curtis book crested the Top 50. It was the first book of his I ever read, and is one doozy of a story.
The plot synopsis from the publisher reads, "It’s 1936 Flint, Michigan. Times may be hard, and 10-year-old Bud may be a motherless boy, but Bud’s got a few things going for him: 1. He has his own suitcase full of special things; 2. He’s the author of "Bud Caldwell’s Rules and Things for Having a Funner Life and Making a Better Liar Out of Yourself"; 3. His momma never told him who his father was, but she left a clue: posters of Herman E. Calloway and his band of renown, the Dusky Devastators of the Depression. Bud is sure those posters will lead him to his father. Once he decides to hit the road, nothing can stop him, not hunger, not fear, not would-be vampires, not even Herman E. Calloway himself."
The book won both a Newbery Award and a Coretta Scott King Award in 2000. In terms of the Newbery, it beat out Newbery Honors Getting Near to Baby by Audrey Couloumbis, Our Only May Amelia by Jennifer L. Holm, and 26 Fairmount Avenue by Tomie dePaola. About the Award, Curtis tells Leonard Marcus in the book Funny Business, "One of my sayings is ‘I get through life by having really low expectations.’ Anything good that happens is a bonus. If it’s bad, well, I wasn’t expecting anything more, anyway. The fact that I was older when I won the Newbery Medal made a real difference. It wasn’t as likely to turn my head. I have a good friend I’ve got to be careful around, because when I’m with him I laugh so hard I almost choke. One of his sayings is ‘One day chicken, next day feathers.’ This is now. Tomorrow may be something different. Don’t take yourself too seriously."
My Suggestions for Use in a Library Setting:
I would use this book in a writing workshop for children. This book would be used as an example of how authors often draw ideas from real people or events in their lives or history. Bud, Not Buddy would be used to illustrate how this can often be used as a starting point for their own writing.
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