Bud, Not Buddy

BOOK ENTRY FORMAT FOR GENRE PROJECT


Information for students
Author: Christopher Paul Curtis Title: Bud, Not Buddy
Book Genre: Multicultural Publishing Info: Dell Yearling, 243

Summary: Bud Caldwell, a ten-year old orphan, runs away from his abusive foster home to search for his father. With a cardboard suitcase of his treasure, Bud attempts to make the journey from Flint, Michigan to Grand Rapids to find a man he is convinced is his father, the legendary Herman E. Calloway. Bud is helped by several people along the way and eventually locates Herman E. Calloway, who denies that Bud is his son. However, it is revealed by the contents in Bud’s suitcase that Herman is a relative of Bud’s, but not his father.


Personal rating: ****

Rationale: well written plot, delightful characters, simplistic language, smooth flow, humorous, helps children understand people with other backgrounds

Information for teachers
Reading level: 5.2 Interest level: 5th-7th

Thematic Areas: family, abandonment, abuse, determination, survival, relationship, hope, racism

Content Areas: history, social studies, music, philosophy, science, art

Potential Problems or Difficulties: Some regional language and dialect may be confusing for some. Also, there are scenes and references to violence and abuse. Two characters, who are children, Bud and Deza Malone, kiss. It also depicts a harsh view of life for children on the streets and families living in poverty.

Possible use in classroom: have students create rules for their lives and compare them to Bud’s; discuss what a “Hooverville” is have students create a plan for helping people in their community; host a debate on the issue of labor unions and railroad workers; have students invent a band, create a name for the band, identify the members and the instruments they play, and create a poster for the band; swap rocks with students in other schools; compare the lives of characters in different books set in the Depression era; have students plan, write, and record on video a commercial advertising the book; have students construct an illustrated timeline that shows the development of communication from the invention of the telegraph to today's new technologies; have students to find out who the major jazz artists were during the Great Depression