Bud, Not Buddy

By Christopher Paul Curtis (15)

Paul Curtis’s Bud, Not Buddy, is the touching story of a boy in search of his father. Ten-year-old Bud Caldwell has been raised in a series of foster homes in Flint, Michigan. Set during the Great Depression, Bud runs away from his latest foster home, taking only his treasures, which include a picture of his dead mother, a blue flyer for a band featuring Herman E. Calloway, and an array of rocks, each with a date and place inscribed on them. Bud and friend Bugs make their way to a Hooverville where people are waiting to jump a train, but gives up his spot when his beloved blue flyer nearly blows away. The clues Bud possesses eventually lead him to Calloway, an embittered, elderly man with another child. Bud must prove to Calloway that he is his kin, but it is not until Calloway finds Bud’s rock collection, which he recognizes as his lost daughter’s own, that he realizes Bud is his grandson. When Calloway’s band presents Bud with a small saxophone, Bud finally feels that he has found his real home, and with it, a real family. Young readers will learn about the Depression through Curtis’ moving story about belonging, and will root for the dedicated and resourceful Bud.