Bud, Not Buddy

Title: Bud, Not Buddy
ISBN:0385323069
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis
Award Won: Newbery Award
Age recommendation: ages 9 and up
Group Represented: African Americans, orphan children
Date of Publication:1999

Summary:
Bud, Not Buddy takes place in Flint Michigan, and Grand Rapids Michigan, during the great depression. Bud became on orphan when his mother fell ill and died when he was six years old. He lives in a home for boys, but is soon sent to a foster home where things don't go so well. After being locked in a shed for a night at his foster home, Bud escapes. He is determined to find his long lost father which he knows little about. He has some old rocks with writing on them and some old posters of Herman E. Calloway, a famous fiddle player, that he feels are links to his past. He sets out to find this Herman who he believes is his father. Bud makes it to Grand Rapids to where Herman lives by walking and hitch hiking. Bud soon discovers that Herman is not his father, but his grandfather after he finds Herman has many rocks just like the ones his mother used to keep with dates and cities written on them. Bud's arrival is the first time Herman has heard of his daughter's death. Herman and his band let Bud live with them, they take care of him, and he soon becomes a musician. Something that he discovers is in his blood.


This would be an interesting book to have students read during a social studies lesson on the Great Depression. It could also be used to teach about segregation as some references are made about separate, but equal situations in the book. For example, Herman's band always needs one white person in it to schedule all the shows and so Herman's club can be under his name.During the time period the book is written in African Americans were not allowed to own property.